Its Gotta Be You
by Clover135
Summary: Love is hard to find, hard to keep, and hard to forget. A tale of the ups and downs of love
1. Chapter 1

You know when you look around at the world and sometimes it feels so big and wonder why its so hard to fit in. One would think it would be easy too, since the world is so big there would be plenty of opportunities to find a place. But in reality, its extremely hard to find people who you can be your true self around, especially when it comes to the opposite sex. Well, let me tell you, its really hard for someone as awkward as me to find that one person that I can let loose around and not be at all worried about what they think. My name is Bella swan, and this is my story about finding the one…

* * *

"Alright class, I shouldn't have to remind you that there will be a test on chapters one through five on Friday, but since I'm feeling nice today I figured I would would remind you of your impending doom coming up. Study hard, this test ain't gonna be easy. See you all soon" Mr. Stewart proclaimed in the same monotone voice he uses for the entire 50 min class.

"Please if he believes any of us would even bother looking over notes until Thursday night, then he needs to go to the doctor and get his brain examined" Rose, my best friend dramatically says.

"Well for those of you who don't mind squeaking by with a C in the class sure wouldn't but I've been keeping up with the reading as I actually have goals in life" Alice states.

Rose looks at Alice and rolls her striking baby blue eyes "Whatever's clever shorty" and pulls out her phone and smiles "Guys Em is playing at some bar on Monroe Ave, we gotta check it out".

Alice, who is now putting her pencil back in her pencil case, like who has those anymore, immediately beings to protest "didn't you just hear Mr. Stewart inform us about the test. I need all the time I can to prepare. You know Rose, you are not going to be able to memorize all the different equations for the test in one night. I'm sure your boyfriend would understand if you didn't make it just this one time."

"Ugh c'mon Alice, lighten up and have some fun. You have all Thursday and Friday morning to prepare. You need a little spice in your life. All you do is study. And what about you Bella? You game? "

I zip up my back pack and wait while these two slow pokes finish whatever the hell they are doing. Alice is actually paper clipping our handouts from class. Who the heck is that organized? I shift my attention back to Rose and think of an excuse to get out of this situation.

"ummmmmmm I have a huge presentation that I am super nervous about tomorrow so I better stay in for the night to prepare for it" I mutter and start walking to the door.

Rose throws her hands up and sighs hysterically "Why are you guys so lame? You know what, I am not taking NO for an answer. You both are coming with me and we will be back before midnight" She texts something and practically runs out of the room before Alice can strangle her. "See you bitches later" leaving Alice and I and several other boys simply just staring at her graceful self.

Alice looks at me "Why the hell does she do that? This is a free country and I am free will to say NO. She is NOT going to do this to me. I have too much at stake. I need an A in this class to make my 4.0. If I don't, my parents will have my head" I simply star at the sky and ask God why he stuck me with these two girls that have totally different personalities as my best friends.

You see, Alice and Rosalie are my two roomies. At Clarkson University, there are triple rooms, and those questions they ask you so they can stick you with someone similar to you are complete bushtit. We all couldn't be more different if we tried.

Rosalie is the typical blond hair blue eyed, rockin bod, beauty queen, badass party girl that all the girls wanna be. She has the mouth of a sailor, can hold he liquor like my father and goes through guys like chocolate chip cookies.

Alice on the other hand, is barley 5 feet tall, short dark hair and is your typical book worm, devoted student and goes to bed at 8:00 on a Saturday night kinda girl. She's never dated anyone and ignores any man that tries to even approach her.

As for me , I guess I am a little bit of both. I care about school and like to make good grades, but hey I don't mind going out every once in a while for a drink and even enjoy some male company now and then. I guess you could say I am the mediator for a lot of things that go on.

Needless to say, somehow we all make it work and are as thick as thieves. We have been roomies for the past four years. It's now our last semester as undergrads and I still can't wrap my head around the fact that we haven't ripped each others heads off yet.

"Alice" I say as we make our way back to the dorms "it's our last semester together before we are all separated. Why don't we just go for a bit. We probably won't leave till eight and Rose said we would be back before Midnight. You can still get plenty of studying done before then. I say we give it a chance. Besides, Rose's flavor of the week is pretty cool. You said you even liked Emmett"

Alice seems to be struggling with an internal battle but finally caves. "I guess your right Bells. And yea Em is pretty cool, but if we aren't home by midnight, I am cutting all of Rose's hair off when she goes to sleep" I pull my key out and unlock our door "Yea and I know you mean that" I laugh and plop my back pack on my bed "But let's just try and make the most of it alright?" Alice sits down on her perfectly made bed and eyes the few candy wrappers and soda cans I have laying around by my bed and hesitantly nods her head "Alright Bella" she says. I sit on my unmade bed and turn on my computer and smile. Mission accomplished.

* * *

2 hours later, I am ready to squirt pepper spray in both Rose and Alice's eyes to make them stop bickering.

"If you think I am going to run around in a dress that is barely long enough to cover my ass then you are out of your mind" shouts Alice

Rose towers over her as she is about 6'2 in her stilettos and gives her the look. When Rosalie gives you the bitch face, you have two choices: to a. run like racehorse or b. just give in to whatever she says.

Alice quickly hits Rosalie's boob and bolts for the door. Rose screams and grabs her boob while I quickly block the door and wrestle Alice into a choke hold.

"Holy shit you are both worse that the triplets I babysat it high school when I told them they couldn't have any chocolate. Both of you just shut the fuck up and get ready. Alice, I have a dress you can borrow, and Rose, you should call Emmett to get directions.

Alice and Rose have this intense stare down and Alice finally breaks the silence "Bella you need to let me go so I can breath."

"Whoops, sorry girl" I mutter and let go of her.

Alice marches up to Rose and gives her a hug. "Sorry I slapped your boob, but if you ever force me to wear a whore dress again, I'll pin you to the ground and wax off both your eyebrows"

Rose smirks and hugs her back "You fight dirty. Now go put on a fucking dress that makes you look like the little nun that you are and fucking get me you fucker"

They both release each other and go their separate ways.

I breathe a sight of relief and finish braiding my hair. Once everything is finished, I take a good hard look at my self. You know how everyone has that one thing that makes them stand out. Like Rose with her beautiful body or Alice with her amazing skin that's never had a pimple a day in her life. I try to find something striking or beautiful but I got nothing. Sure my hair is nice. It's just a regular brown that goes down to my breasts. I have normal brown eyes and an average body. I do have nice legs, since I run almost every day, but I've seen nicer. To be completely honest, I believe that everything about me is pretty ordinary. I see my friends get checked out by guys all the time. I feel as though I am invisible sometimes compared to them and it defiantly sucks.

Rosalie has a different boyfriend every week and has guys chasing after her all the time. Alice, while refuses to give in to any attention she receives, the cute little figure and pixie hair cut attracts men all the time. Me however, I am lucky to have a guy even look at me, and even that happens few and far in between

"Quit sulking like a little bitch and continue to get the fuck ready. Em says they play in 20 min and it takes a good ten to drive there"

I smile and roll my eyes and fish for my lip gloss. "Yes princess" I reply and quickly slab some on and spray my hair one more time.

I go back to the room and find my wallet and quickly dash out the door, lock it and catch up with the girls who are now bickering about drinking

"All I am saying Rose, is that if you drink too much and throw up on me again, I will cut you and post that super embarrassing picture to facebook for the whole world to see.

"Oh you wouldn't dare, you conniving little cu-"

"Alright enough with the bickering my old married couple" I say and slap my hand over Rose's mouth to prevent her from using hurtful words. "Lets go have some fun" and remove my hand from Rose's mouth before she does something weird.

We make our way to my cute red 1950s pick up truck. We all gather in and buckle up. I start the ignition and my truck rubles to life making the sound of a snoring old man and zoom the fuck outta there leaving two girls in the parking lot stunned from the noise.

"Alright my dirty whores, let ourselves have a good night. Shots as soon as we enter the bar" Rose screams and pumps her fist while Alice mutters under her breath and stares out the window.

I turn on some country music and blare that shit up. If we're gonna go out, we mind as well go all out. A couple of right turns, two honks at really stupid drivers, and Rose flipping off a truck driver, we make it to the to bar alive.

We enter the bar and Rose immediately scans the room for her man of the week. Emmett is hard to miss since he is literally almost 7 feet tall. He seriously could be a body builder with his bulging muscles and tall stature.

He seems us first, and barrels his way through the crowd of other college students and lifts Rose up and twirls her around

"RRROOOSSSSIIIEEEEEEEE" her screams "so glad you could make it BABY"

Rose looks extremely pissed off, but if you take a close look at her eyes, they are lit up and filled with happiness. Its a look I don't see too often from Rose. She's had a rough life with her mother being married five times and always moving around.

"Emmett I spent a good hour getting ready so if you continue to harass and grope me and ruin all the effort I have put in to look this hot then you are gonna fucking hurt until next week"

Emmett just laughs, gives her one more twirl and carefully sets her down.

"Em you remember Bella and Alice, my two lame ass roomies" Rosalie says in a bored tone and scans the room. Her wall is back up

"Hey Emmett" I say and give a small wave. Alice just looks up at him in amazement.

"Now that just won't do" Emmett practically yells and pulls both Alice and I for a hug.

"Emmet quit behaving like a monkey and put them down" possessive Rose says

"Opps sorry girls, sometimes I forget my own strength" Em rumbles

Alice is still quite and just looks at him. "How the hell did you get so big?" she asks with a voice filled with wonder

Emmett looks down and her "How they hell did you say so small? I was your size when I was about three months old"

Rose rolls her eyes. if she keeps doing that, her eyes are going to be permanently damaged.

"Alright guys, I don't know about you, but I could use a shot of tequila" I say and march over the bar.

Eventually, we all have a nice buzz, even Alice has finally stopped fidgeting and looking very much relaxed when Emmett's band is called.

"Beaver Boners may please arrive on the stage" the announcer says and Emmett jumps to his feet. "Ahhh shit, where the fuck are the boys?" he questions as he scans the room.

Just then two fuckhot guys enter the bar.

One of them has blond hair that is formed into a mow hulk and is spiked. He is wearing a black tank top that shows off all his muscles and tattoos and a pair of skinny jeans with chains on the side of them. As he comes closer, I notice he has his eyebrow pierced along with several piercings on his ears. Normally guys like this turn me off, but this guy has the whole punk rocker look going his way. So while I am eyeing him I almost miss the odd color of hair that immediately diverts my attention to the other guy.

And all I have to say is

OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYY

GGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWDDDDDDDDD

The most beautiful man I have ever laid eyes on was just a few feet away. I might have been drooling or crying, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that the boy with the penny colored hair was my dream boy. He was wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, but was tight enough to know he was a frequent member of the gym. His hair was all over the place but looked like it was supposed to be styled that way and had a little scruff that made me want to rub my face on his.

I was just about to run up to him and be all smooth and do my impression of Joey in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. when he goes how you doin? To any cute girl he sees when Alice grabs my arm

"Bella I've told you 10 times that you need to come to the bathroom with me. What the hell are you looking at?" Alice frantically asks while trying to decipher why my eyes were glazed over and had a sappy looking face. Romeo and his friend were getting closer and closer and closer…. And just right when he was close enough for me to give him a wink or something, suddenly Emmett speaks up.

"EDDIKINS AND JAAZZ YOU FINALLY MADE IT! THEY JUST CALLED US UP. WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU BALLSACKS ANYWAYS?" Well, if it was anyone to break me out of my love struck trance, it would be Emmett.

The punk rocker looked over and lover boy followed. "Yo Em" blondie spoke up in a southern twang which so did not fit is appearance "Sorry man, Eddie here had a run in with Tanya. Not my fault man. Now what do we have here" as he gave Alice the elevator eyes. Rose looked put out that he didn't check her out first. That was her thing. Alice, however, didn't even notice his roaming eyes, instead jabbing me in the side.

"Bella" she said exasperating "can we please go to the ladies room? This is getting ridiculous" and gave my arm another tug.

Just as I was about to tell her to chill the blond man named Jasper spoke "I would gladly escort you to the ladies room shortcake. Hell, I'll even give you the grand tour" in his southern drawl and grabs her hand.

Alice took her hand back aggressively and with a voice filled with venom replied "You haven't even properly introduced yourself to me and are already hitting on me. Don't you dare put your grimy hands on me ever again you perv" and stormed off to the bathroom. Jasper just stood with his mouth hung open. "I think I just met my future wife" he said to himself and quickly followed after her.

Emmett groaned "Edward we gotta get the fuck up there and play man". Edward, gosh that goes awfully well with Bella. Edward and Bella. Bella and Edward. Yes father, this is my boyfriend Edward. What a beautiful name. Luckily Rose snapped me out of it.

"Well aren't you going to introduce your friends to us" Rose asked, seeming a little annoyed.

Emmett looked over, forgetting about our existence and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh sorry babe. Ed, this is my girl Rosie and her friend Bella" he boomed "they are here to watch us rock this joint to the ground". Edward looked at Rose and me and gave us a crooked smirk. I think I just melted a little "Nice to meet you ladies" god even his voice was hot. Was he the singer in the group? If he is, I might not be able to take this. I already need a cold show just from him speaking a simple sentence.

"Nice to meet you too. Now you can scoot" she gave Emmett a quick kiss on the cheek and pulled me over to a table that had just become free. We sat on opposite sides. Rose observed me while I frantically looked for Edward, who was now out of my sight.

"What the fuck has you worked up like a man who has been deprived of sex for a year?" she asked.

I tried to play cool as I focused all of my attention on her and shrugged, but that obviously didn't work as she gave me a knowing smile. "Honestly Bella, do you think I was fucking born yesterday? Do you think I suffered from short term memory loss to be able to forget you goo goo goo ga ga over Edward. I saw you stare at him like he was the last piece of cake on earth. God, I am pretty sure you were drooling all over that fucking tool"

I decided to take a deep breath and count to ten so I didn't slap her. "Rose, you need to stop hallucinating. I think he's cute. So what?. You do this all the time"

"Sure I check out guys all the time. I man hunt. But I never get too carried away or make it obvious like the stunt you pulled just of couple fucking minutes ago you dirty slut! But hey, whatever. You should go for it. You never do anything"

And I really didn't. I have never really dated too much. No one has really asked me. Which makes me feel like an ugly loser. And the guys that do give me the time of day turn out to be ass holes and I get shit on. Men suck

"Oh my god, what the hell is wrong with that Jasper guy. He won't stop following me around. He was waiting for me outside the ladies room like a total creep. Ugghhh this is not what I need right now" Alice moaned and slipped into the chair next to me.

"I need another drink. Do we have to stay the whole time? I don't wanna have to deal with him again" she whined. Rosalie looked astonished that she would say such a thing.

"Alice, have you SEEN Jasper. Like REALLY seen him. Take a GOOD HARD look at him. He's fucking edible. You should go for him. He'd crack your shell really good. Make you live a little" Rosalie ranted. Alice glared at her.

"GOOD EVENING everyone. We are the BEAVER BONERS" Emmett was up on stage while Jasper and Edward were getting into position to play. Edward bent down to plug something in, and holy crap that view was mighty fine. I might need a fan. Maybe I should get a glass of water to cool down. Across from me, Rosalie kicked me under the table and smirked. I just glared back at her. Alice watched us curiously, trying to figure out what was happening

"Hope you guys enjoy the show tonight. Jazz right here will be playing the guitar" he says and points to Jasper. Jasper looks up from his guitar and gives a big smile and wave "and Eddie here is our singer and this pool of sexy right here plays the drums. Hope you all enjoy!". Emmett then handed the microphone to Edward and walked towards the drums. He then sat, picked up him sticks and looked our way. Rosalie blushed and smiled when Emmett blew her a kiss. Now it was my turn to kick her under the table and smirk. Alice made a gagging sound. Rosalie just shrugged and continued to soak up all the attention. Lucky bitch.

Just then the lights dimmer, and Jasper started to strum his guitar. Emmett began to bang away on the drums, but I was only vaguely aware of them. It was Edward that held my attention. He ran his fingers through his hair and tapped his foot lightly with the beat. His head was facing down as he focused his attention on the beat and got lost in another world that I wish I knew. Then he looked straight ahead and began to sing.

"Wow they are actually pretty good" Alice whispered. I looked over and noticed her eyeing Jasper. I elbowed her "See something you like girl?" She immediately blushed and looked the other way. "I think I am gonna drink, you weirdos need anything?"

Rosalie finally tore her eyes of Emmett who was having a great time bashing those drums like no tomorrow and smiled "Yea get us a round of screaming orgasms. Lord knows we could all use a few" and then started to laugh hysterically.

Alice looked at her like she had lost her mind and looks at me. "You know, that actually that sounds pretty good to me" I say. Rosalie really starts to loose it and I join in with her laughter.

Alice just shook her head. "Why do I even bother? You two are psycho" and walked away leaving a couple guys in her way look at her wishfully. I sigh and turn my attention back to Edward and get lost in the words he is singing.

I'd like to say that he noticed me. That he pointed and sang right too me, but that is far from the truth. In reality, he just looked straight ahead. Like he was in his own little world. He didn't give me or any other girl in the room any attention. He was just focused on the music.

I just enjoyed the view. Eventually Alice came back with the drinks, and us girls just sat back and enjoyed the songs. It felt great.

But all good things must come to an end. "And I'll end with this song" Edwards angelic voice slurred. I soaked up every word and when the song was over, I jumped out of my chair and clapped frantically. Alice just starred up at me in shock and Rosalie ran up to the stage and Emmett pulled her up and gave her a huge kiss in front of everyone. Some girls in the front gave Rose death glares. Rose just smiled smugly and dragged him to the bar.

Alice groaned. "Great those two are going to be making out for the rest of the time" and got out of her chair to join them at the bar.

I look up at the stage and see Edward alone unplugging something. I see a couple girls congratulate him, and he smiles but doesn't engage too much with them. They eventually gave up and went back to wherever they were hanging out. I look the other way and see Emmett and Rosalie at the bar messing around and Alice look at Jasper in disgust as he chugged a glass of beer. I decide to make a move on Edward. The alcohol was giving me some confidence and I strutt over to him

"Hello Edward" I attempted to purr and make my voice low and sexy. He looked up from whatever he was doing and raised one eyebrow. Holly shit that was hot. Would it be weird to lick him? Or maybe just pet his hair. God I have problems.

"Heyyy you're one of Rosalie's friends right?" he asked "sorry I forgot your name" he looked back down at the cords and started to fittle with them.

"Yes, I am. My name is Bella. I just wanted to say you guys were amazing. Fucking rocked my panties off. Oh shit I mean socks. Sorry a little drunk is all. Is your hair really that color? Can I touch it?" and then to end my embarrassing rant, I burped probably the biggest burp a girl can muster. My hands flew to my face to cover up my blush and just laughed.

Edward looked at me and then just started to laugh too. He had a beautiful laugh. I wanted to record it and listen to it every day. He stood up and pried my hands from my face. Oh god, his skin was so soft. Like a blanket. I wanted his hands to stay there forever "Bella it's a pleasure to meet you. Glad you enjoyed the show. Now where did our friends run off too?" and looked around. Probably trying to escape me and my drunkenness.

I looked around and saw our friends at the edge of the bar.

"They are right there" I pointed. Edward narrowed his eyes and looked "Oh I see them. It looks really busy. Where was that table you girls were sitting at? Is it still open?"

I looked at him in surprise. I had no idea that he had even noticed were we were sitting. This is huge. Does this mean he noticed us notice him? I pried my eyes off him and look around. Sure enough our table was occupied by another group and didn't look like they were leaving anytime soon.

"Yea" I pointed to our table "that's our table and its occupied". Edward glanced and sighed "Figures" he said. "Do you wanna maybe go outside? I saw a couple of tables out there. And it's a pretty nice night. What do you say?" and looked at me with those piercing green eyes. Holy shit. How could I say no? I didn't want to say no. If he asked me to go watch paint dry, I wouldn't say no.

I gave him a smile and said "I would love that. You lead the way"

He smiled at me and grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd. Was I dreaming? Was this for real? This might be the best night of my existence. I couldn't wait for what was about to unfold

And that's that! Please leave reviews! This is my first fanction! I know I want there to be a little drama, but nothing huge! Any recommendations you have for me would be great! Thank you so much!


	2. Chapter 2

Edward picked a picnic table in a quite spot. There were a few people around but nothing crazy. There was a soft melody floating through the air and the animated chatter and laughter from the few people around us.

Edward let go of my hand and sat down. I sat down on the bench across from him and put my hands on the table and looked at him

Edward smirked at me "So Bella, what kinda girl are you?" his voice was so smooth and dauntless. He was like one of those guys you see on TV shows. He had that charismatic handsomeness to him. That easy confidence that comes naturally.

I pushed my hair from out of my face and said "The ordinary kind" and examined my nails. I really needed Alice to redo them. She was awesome at nail designing. I could still feel Edwards eyes on me, and it was making me really nervous suddenly. I think the alcohol was wearing off.

Edwards soft melodic laugh filled the air. A couple girls to my right stopped talking just to look and listen to him. I can't say I blame them. "There's no such thing as an ordinary girl Bella, they're all different in their own way"

I looked up and him and was blinded by his smile. How does someone get their teeth that white? I used those crest whitening strips for an entire year, and my teeth were still nowhere near as white as his.

"Well Alright Mr. Girl expert, why don't you tell me what kinda girl I am" I ask

Edward reaches across the table and takes my hand "A pretty one". With those grassy eyes and rusty colored hair, I couldn't help but swoon.

In that moment, I felt as though time had stopped. People froze. It was just me and him and all I wanted was to crawl across the table and kiss him so passionately that even the people he hates would feel love

Aaaaaaannnnnnnndddddddddd of course this is my life, and things like that don't happen so perfectly for me. I was just about to grab his shirt and pull him over to me when I felt some sort of liquid being spilled over my shirt. I quickly shot up from my seat and see who the culprit was, only to be faced with some drunk redhead who was giggling wildly

"Opsie" she slurred and grabbed the girl standing next to her's arm. The friend gave me an apologetic look and they stumbled away.

I took a deep breath and turned back to Edward. Whatever moment we just had was ruined. Edward stood up.

"I think I better find the girls and head out" I spoke. "I smell like cheap beer" and sniffed my shirt and cringed. It was one of my favorite tops. Hugged me the right way and showed off my boobs perfectly.

"Yea I'll come with you. It's getting late and I have an early class" Edward said and grabbed my hand again and pulled me along, an electric current shooting up my arm as he held on to me.

He pulled me through the crowd, and I noticed a few girls eye him up and down.

As we approached I noticed that Emmett and Rose were wrapped up in their own world, with Rose sitting on his lap and laughing at something he said. She ran her fingers through his hair, and Emmett closed his eyes and moved his hand up and down her thigh. Just the sight of them was nauseating. I looked around for Jasper and Alice who were no where do bee seen.

"Hey guys, its getting pretty late and Tanya has been texting me nonstop so I gotta skitaddle" Edward says

Rose takes her eyes of Emmett and looks at us, her gaze lingering briefly on our hands that are connected. I am still relishing in the fact that Edward is still holding my hand, but feel suddenly uneasy when this Tanya girl is mentioned again. Who the heck is this girl? His girlfriend? If he had a girlfriend waiting for him at home then he shouldn't be holding my hand. What the heck is going on?

Emmett pats Rose's leg and then stands up. "Yea don't wanna keep her waiting any longer or she'll flip a shit" He leans down to kiss Rose.

"Where the heck is Jasper and Alice?" I wonder out loud

Edward finally breaks our connection by using his hand to pat his pockets in search for his phone that is now ringing "Good question" mutters Edward and answers his phone

"Hello" he says "Yea all of us are at the bar, where the fuck are you bro" I think he's talking to Jasper and moves to his other side to let a group of more college kids get easier access to the bar.

"Oh okay, we will meet you out there" Edward says and hangs up. "That was Jasper. Him and Alice were hanging in his car" and winks at me "I think those two might have hit it off"

I laugh "I don't know, the last time I was them Alice looked like she wanted to cut of his head"

Edward laughs too and shrugs "I guess you never know" and you really don't. Life always has a funny way of surprising you. Emmett and Rose are still kissing, so Edward whacks his head "Dude let's go"

Emmett and Rose both jump up and gasp for air. Edward and I just look at each other and roll our eyes. "Looks like they still haven't gotten out of honey moon phase yet" I say

"Yea they have been going at it all week. I had to tell them to keep it down at 2 a.m. a couple days ago."

I laugh "Oh gosh I am so sorry. That must have been terrible" Edward just shrugs and begins to walk towards the door.

"What are you two laughing at?" Emmett asks. Rose comes up beside me and links our elbows. "Don't worry about it dude" Edward says.

We finally get to Jasper's car only to see a very shocking sight. Jasper has pinned Alice up against the front door of his car, and they are both making out as if they are the last two people on earth. Jasper's right hand is on her breast and his left hand on her ass. Alice has both hands dug into his hair.

"WELL WELL WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE" Emmett booms and both Alice and Jasper jump away from each other breathing heavily. Alice is now redder than a tomato and Jasper just grins and walks back to Alice and slowly wraps his arm around her. "Finally got this little filly to open up to me" Jasper boasts.

Alice groans and steps out from under his arm. "Yes that is the only time you will ever catch me doing that so you better have enjoyed that cuz that is the first and last time it will ever happen" and turns to Rose and I "We need to get out of here" she pleads and then takes a brief sniff at my shirt. "Jeez Bella you reek of beer" she cringes

"Yea some drunk girl spilled her glass all over me" Rose laughs "Oh Bella, how do these things happen to you?"

I shrug and look at Edward. He's currently frowning and texting. As if he feels my gaze, he looks at me and gives me a small smile. "You boys ready now" and looks at both Jasper and Emmett

"Yea dude" Emmett says and starts to open a door to Jasper's car. "Aren't you forgetting something" Rose fumes. Emmett looks around and pats his pockets "I don't think so baby" Rose puts her hand on her hip and taps her finger on her mouth. Emmett's eyes light up with recognition and runs over to her, tips her back and gives her one hell of a kiss.

I just groan and roll my eyes. At this rate, we will never make it out of here. Jasper eyes Alice up and down and walks toward her. "Don't you get any ideas"Alice snarls and holds out her hands. Jasper, quickly grabs her hands and wraps them around him and leans down to whisper in her ear "I love it when you're feisty. Alice struggles and finally breaks free from his grasp and slaps his head.

"I think you're a disgusting pig who has absolutely no manners!" Alice yells and stomps her foot

"I think you're hot" Jasper says simply

Oh gosh, they are so getting off on this. I can't tell whether Alice wants to jump in his arms and kiss him again or kick him in the balls. Edward breaks my focus by tapping my shoulder.

I gaze into his beautiful eyes. They remind me of fresh spring grass. I feel as though I could get lost in them forever. I must look star struck or something because Edward snaps his fingers in front of me

"Bella you okay? You look kinda funny" Well thanks. That's what every girl aches to hear from the man of her desires.

"Yea I'm fine. Sorry just kinda tired" I say

"Yea I know what you mean, anyways just wanted to say very nice to meet you. Hope to see you around on campus" Edward says

"Yea me too" I say and mean it. God, how have I gone this far into college and not seen him. It's not like my school is huge or anything. And he hopes to see me! Does this mean he likes me and legitimately wants to see me again? I am about to jump up and down and scream in delight when Emmett roars "Alright ladies, it's been a pleasure but this man needs his beauty sleep" and disappears into the car.

"Yea you could sleep for three days straight and that still wouldn't make you any where near close to being a beauty" Jasper laughs and hops into the driver seat

"Alright that's my queue, see ya Bella" Edward says "ladies" he nods at Rose and Alice and hops into the car. They give beep and all wave and pull out into the parking lot

"Alright, what the hell was that about" Rose screeches and matches my pace as we walk back to my car

"Yea" Alice goes and falls into step beside me on my other side "It looks as if you both wanted to eat each other. Rose snorts "I'm sure Bella wishes"

"Really Rose" I go. Rose just snorts again "Couldn't resist. That was a perfect opportunity"

We finally make it to my car and we all get in.

"The thing is I think Edward is super hot. But he kinda seems like a mystery" I say

Rose hums in agreement "Yea I mean, I have only talked to him a couple times when I was over at Em's. He seems like a bit of a bad boy. Just be careful" Rose looks at me and grabs on of my hands and gives it a light squeeze. "I've just never seen you be so infatuated by a guy before"

"Yea me either" Alice pipes up in the back.

I meet her gaze in the review mirror and smirk "I could say the same about you girlfriend" Alice sits back and crosses her arms and gives me a death star

"Yea what the hell was all the ruckus about. I thought you and Mick Jagger back there were about to have a fuck fest in the middle of the parking lot" Rose smnckers

"SHUT UP" Alice yells "I had too much to drink and Jasper wouldn't shut up and the only way to get him to shut up was by kissing him" she rants

"But you get hit on ALL the time Alice, and you never kiss any of those boys. I think you secretly like him" I say and pull into a parking spot.

"I am so NOT getting into this right now" Alice says and hops out of the car. We all do the same and I quickly lock my car

"All I'm fucking saying is that Jasper couldn't get enough of your short stack. Why don't you give him a chance Rose says as we enter our dorm.

"I have too much going on right now for me to get distracted over a guy" Alice says while fishing through her purse for the key to our room. She finally finds it and unlocks our door.

"Ugh you take life WAY to seriously. I say you give him a chance and live a little" Rose says. I nod my head in agreement "You deserve to have a little fun" I say

"But make sure you stay safe" Rose says and I laugh. We high five each other. Alice just continues to glare at us.

"You two bitches just mind your own business" Alice spats

* * *

2 weeks later, and I still can't get Edward's perfect face out of my head. I am sitting in the library attempting to study with Alice but I keep drifting off to my happy place that consists of Edward and I on a beach, holding hands and laughing.

"What the heck are you smiling about" Alice asks, eyeing me curiously.

I sigh "What do you think" I ask

"Good God Bella, it's been a couple weeks since you've seen him and he's still on your mind. You've got it worse than I thought"

I glare at her "You cannot tell me that you haven't thought even a little bit about the passionate make-out session you and Jasper shared!"

"I can tell you that I have absolutely NOT thought about that drunk make-out session with that sleaze ball at ALL. I am doing my best to block it out of my memory but you and Rose insist on always bringing it up" Alice huffs

"Alice, that is the first time in all of my four years of knowing you that I have EVER seen you give a guy even the slightest amount of interest, yet alone KISSING them." I say

"I was drunk. I CANNOT be blamed" Alice says and looks back at her notes

"So you don't wanna see him ever again?" I ask

"That would be correct" Alice says

I eye her and notice the way her nostrils flair. Classic sign that Alice is lying. I smirk to myself. If liar's pants actually caught on fire, then hers would be burning up!

An hour later of studying, or about 15 minutes of studying and 45 minutes of day dreaming more about Edward, I realize that I need to take a break and move my legs. Maybe a cup of coffee would be. I reach into my bag and find my wallet.

I glance at Alice and tap the table. She looks up from her notes and raises her eyebrows.

"Yes?" she asks

"I am gonna go grab a cup of coffee. You wanna join? I say

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks though" she says and goes back into studying her massive amount of notes.

I walk to the coffee shop located at the bottom of the library, stopping to say hello to a couple people here and there.

There's a line at the coffee shop so I take time to check my phone and text back Rose, who wanted to know what time Alice and I were gonna go to dinner when a familiar head of hair catches my eye.

In the corner booth a couple feet away was Edward and some girl with blonde hair leaning really close to him. They were just about to kiss when I had to look away. I got that terrible feeling you get in your tummy when something bad happens. Of course someone that looks like Edward wouldn't be single. I close my eyes and try to ignore the feeling of disappointment sink into my veins.


	3. Chapter 3

"I saw Edward kissing a girl" I confess to both Rose and Alice as we dig into our meal. Luckily we found a quite booth in one of dinning halls on campus. I like this one because it has more of a calm atmosphere rather than the main dinning area which is so loud you can barely hear yourself think.

Rose stops mid chew of her French fry and looks at me in surprise. Alice, who is currently tucking her napkin inside her blouse to make a bib, also eyes me with shocked eyes.

"Who, what, where, why, and when" Alice practically shouts. Rose pats her head "Take a breath girl" and looks back at me.

"I have no idea" I say "I saw Edward and some girl with long blonde hair kissing in one of the coffee booths at the library" and put my head between my hands. I keep replaying it over and over in my head and its killing me! What I really want to do is yank that girl's head back by her long luscious hair and shove her out of the way and announce to the whole world that Edwards mine.

"Well that explains the crappy mood you were in when you came back from the café. You looked like a three year old that had just dropped your ice cream cone" Alice says, breaking my girl fight fantasy.

"It just sucks. I thought maybe just this once a guy ACTUALLY liked me and showed INTEREST. Don't you get how huge that is for me?" I explain and look back up at them. Alice and Rose look at each other and roll their eyes.

"Bella" Rose explains in a voice that you would use with a two year old "guys check you out all the time. You always say that you're the ugly friend. But your NOT, so quit having a pity party for yourself. There will be plenty of men out there that will track you down" and begins to put dressing on her ceaser salad.

"She's right you know" says Alice, who is now cutting her French fries, dipping them in the neat little pile of ketchup she carefully squirted on her plate and eating them. I fight the urge to laugh as she somehow manages to get ketchup in her hair, even when taking all the necessary precautions to avoid it. "You need to have more self- confidence. That's what this is really about. You're beautiful, and its time you start believing it" she says

"Okay okay, enough of the pep talk" I say and take a huge bite of my turkey melt, something I get almost every day because college food sucks. "Rose, has Emmett said anything about Edward having any sort of romantic acquaintance with a girl at all? I ask

Rose finishes chewing her bite of food and quickly sips some water and tries to remember "No idea. But remember a girl named Tanya was mentioned a couple times? Maybe that was the girl. I'm supposed to see him later, I can casually ask him if you would like me too" Rose suggests and digs back into her salad.

"Have you facebook stalked him yet" Alice eyes me with a knowing smile. She knows me too well. Of course I already facebook stalked him. As soon as we got back from the bar, I immediately looked him up, because let's face it, I'm a huge creep. I look at her and blush

"Yea, I have and didn't see anything. He only has two profile pictures, one is just of him, Jasper and Em all playing at some gig, and the other one is of him and what seem to be his Mom and Dad. It's super cute" I gush. Alice just rolls her eyes at me and Rose laughs

"Gosh Bella" she muses and wipes her face off with a napkin "You are a facebook whore" and quickly jumps off her seat to avoid the kick she knows I will attempt and throws out her garbage.

"Yea I know" I confess "but there didn't seem to be any girl in the picture, but a lot of his stuff is on private, so I don't have much to go off" and look at Alice who just nods.

"When we get back to the room, I'll check him out. See if I can find anything" she says and I give her a grateful smile. Rose returns to the table with two cookies and an apple.

"Rose" I plead and she looks over at me "Please find out dirty deets and pass them along to my. My happiness relies on this" and eat the last of my sandwich.

"I will, you drama queen" She says "I'm heading over to Em's after I am finished" and begins to eat her apple.

Alice eyes her cookies and slowly reaches for one. Rose, who is in her own world doesn't see Alice smoothly steel a cookie until a minute too late. She narrows her eyes at Alice and attempts to snatch the remainder of it from her hands. "You sneaky bitch" Rose snarls and continues to hassle her for the piece of the cookie. Alice, who is now laughing hysterically, after all one of her favorite things to do is annoy Rose, dodges all her attempts and plants the last part of the cookie in her mouth. "I HATE you" Rose screeches "That was MY cookie" and gives Alice a good shove and Alice falls off her chair with a bang

Really, my friends are crazy. I look around to see if anyone has noticed our little scene and realize that the few kids that are here are indeed not just looking but also laughing. Some dude even has his phone out. I give him a look but he just shrugs "Chick fights are hot" he says and walks away.

* * *

"Oh yes, that's his page!" I tell Alice. We are sitting her bed as I navigate towards her to Edward's Facebook page. Alice clicks on his name, and his page comes to sight. Together, we pick apart his profile.

"It says here that he's studying to be a doctor, maybe you can help out with his studies. Let him examine you!" Alice suggests and wiggles her eyebrows at me. I pretend to glare at her and poker her side. She just flinches slightly and pretends to glare back at me.

"Okay okay, look at his pictures" and turn her computer slightly towards me and click on his profile picture. Edwards green eyes bore right into mine and I sigh dreamily. Alice turns the computer back her way and studies his face.

"Yea, he's pretty cute Bells, but I still think you can do better" Alice says and clicks to the next picture. "Alright, that's pretty cute" and points to the picture with his Father and Mother. "You can totally tell he loves his family" and then continues to see all the people that liked it. I look at the picture of him in the middle, with what seems to be his mother on the right and the father on the left. They all have their arms wrapped around each other on what seems to be someone's porch. They are all dressed casually and grinning from ear to ear.

Edwards has the same penny colored hair as his mother, but looks almost exactly like his father. If he looks anything like his father when he's older, then he'll still be the knock out that he is now.

"Ohhhhh look a girl named Tanya Dehli liked his picture!" Alice proclaims, and clicks on her name. Suddenly we are brought to a familiar head of hair that I saw at the coffee shop. She was beautiful with her long blonde hair, big blue eyes, and tan skin.

My face must have said it all because Alice put her arm around me and gave me a slight squeeze. "Bells, don't you dare compare yourself to her okay. Sure she's pretty in the fake kind of way. You have a natural beauty towards you" and lets go of me and continues to stalk her page.

Do you know how many times I've been told that? Oh Bella you're so cute. Oh Bella you're so adorable. Oh Bella, you're so beautiful, any man would be lucky to have you. Unfortunately, the only people that have said these things to me would be my closest friends and family members. But no guy haves ever actually told me that, so how am I supposed to believe it?

Alice clicks away through all her profile pictures, most of them just of her. Alice snorts "She seems a bit self-obsessed. Look at this one" Alice points, using the mouse to emphasize the fact that Tanya's breasts are very much visible.

"Wow" I say "That is some rack" and immediately look at my breasts, which are about average. Nothing compared to hers

"Yea, she's sure modest about it too" Alice sarcastically says "I wouldn't worry too much Bells. She doesn't seem like girlfriend material. Plus Edward hasn't liked or commented on any of her profile pictures" and exists out of her pictures.

She scrolls through her information and narrows her eyes "It says here that she is studying communications and that she's single and looking for a relationship" she says and I quickly move my head closer to get a better look.

"Hmmmmmm well that's interesting" I say. So Edward and she aren't in a relationship. What kind of relationship do they have then? There was no doubting that SOMETHING was going on between them.

"Yea it certainly is" Alice says and logs out of Facebook. She closes her computer and stretches out her legs and sighs "It's weird, but you can't draw conclusions. Just wait to see what Rose finds out. Maybe its nothing" She says and hops off the bed and walks to her desk. She picks up a notebook "I gotta study a little, do you mind if I do it in here?" She asks. I shake my head and get up and dig through my backpack till I find the notebook I need.

"I need to study too before Rose comes back and makes it impossible" Alice laughs and nods.

Alice immediately finds her groove, but it takes me a while to find mine.

I can't help but compare myself to this Tanya girl. She's beautiful, the kind of girl that turns every single guy's heads when she walks into a room. The girl that guys die to talk to and wanna date. Really, I have no chance here when my competition is her!

But agonizing over the inevitable doesn't help, and I eventually force myself to focus.

A few hours later, I'm about to close my notebook and call it a night when Rose bursts energetically into the room.

"Bella" she shouts "I've got dirty and juicy gossip for you to hear"

"Rose, do you really have to yell" Alice scolds. "I was TRYING to study" she says

"Oh hop off it Alice. This is GOOD!" Rose says and plops herself right next to me

"Okay Okay" I laugh "Please share" I say

"Alright, so Edward and this girl named Tanya go all the way back to freshman year. They met at some party Emmett hosted and apparently hooked up. They were both super drunk, but Tanya really wanted him. She's tried over the past four years to get him to commit to her, but he never does. Emmett says that they have a pretty casual relationship, hooking up every once in a while" Rosalie rants

"Wow" I say

"But that's not all" Rose says with a mischievous smile "I guess Edward gets fed up with Tanya a lot of the time, but Emmett says usually every couple mouths she comes around begging for Edwards attention and for some reason, he always caves and they hook up and the cycle continues." And focuses her blue eyes on me.

"So they aren't together, they just hook up every once in a while, if that makes you feel any better" Rose says. But it didn't. She's still had a piece of Edward that I will never have. He still wants her in one way shape or form. Plus, if they were kissing in the library, did that mean they were back to hooking up? What a confusing relationship.

"If it makes you feel any better, Jasper and Edward both can't stand her. They say she's super stuck up and manipulative. They think she's a complete bitch" Rose laughs and gives my hair a playful tug.

"Don't be upset. You still have a chance! Edwards still on the market! And Emmett said he's willing to help you" Rose says gleefully but waits cautiously for my reaction

"WHAT" I shout and spring from my bed. "You TOLD him I LIKED him" and angrily point my finger at her

Rose sits up from my bed and narrows her eyes at me "Yes, I didn't really have a choice. Emmett kept asking why I wanted to know so much about Edward. I couldn't lie to him" she says

"Then you should have told him Alice likes him" I seeth.

"HEY" shouts Alice

Rose shakes her head. "It's fine Bells. Emmett said he wouldn't tell Edward. Didn't you hear me correctly; he said he would HELP you! And since Emmett is one of Edwards's best friends, you should be happy! He's rooting for YOU" Rose says and slowly approaches me.

I calm down a little. After all, that could help me. But did I really wanna waste my time on a guy that was casually hooking up with some girl and refuse to commit to her? Who's to say he wouldn't do the same thing to me. No matter how hot a guy is, I refuse to be just some hussy he can have a couple of good fucks with.

"I don't know Rose. Maybe getting involved in this wouldn't be such a good idea. I don't want to get hurt" I say

"I think that's a good idea Bella. He sounds kinda fishy. You can do way better than a guy that treats girls like some play toy" Alice says, shutting off her desk light and watching me carefully

Rose puts her arms around me, and I slowly thaw in her arms. "And you CAN do better Bella. But it's worth a shot. Why don't you let Emmett work his magic and maybe just get to know Edward as a friend. Then if you don't like him, you can just walk away. No harm no fowl" she says and rubs my back soothingly. I humm in contentment.

"Whatever you decide, please be careful Bella. I don't want to see you get hurt" Alice says

It's a tough decision and rational Bella says to run while you still can. But the other side urges to me give it a try. All I'm doing is simply getting to know him, it's not like I'm throwing myself at him and begging him to take me right then and there.

"Okay" I whisper into Rose's ear. "Tell Emmett I'm game" and pull out of Rose's embrace and walk over to my dresser.

"Sweet" Rose says and fist pumps into the air "This is so exciting" and pulls her phone out of her pocket to text who I assume is Emmett to tell him the news.

I find my pajamas and get my towel and wash cloth. "I'm taking a shower girls" and head out the door.

"So Alice, what do you think of Jasper? He was on his knees begging for your number before I left" I hear Rose ask Alice.

I shut the door, but I can still make out Alice's groan. I smile a shake my head.

* * *

I am in one of my education classes, a course that I am required to take in order to complete my early education minor, when I hear my phone buzz in my pocket. A couple people around me give me dirty looks as I quickly take my phone out off my pocket and switch it to silent.

I notice that an unfamiliar number has texted me. Curious, I open up the message

_Yo Bella Bean, it's Em Swizzle. Rose gave me your numbering order to help you out. So step one is going to my party tonight. Eddie will be there ;)_

I blush and shove my phone back into my pocket, my stomach now filled with butterflies at the possibility of seeing Edward tonight. Anticipation runs through my veins as I decide what to wear. Do I dress casual or wear that really cute lace dress Alice and Rose convinced me to buy last weekend during one of our shopping escapade? I better consult with the professionals before I decide.

I look at the clock and die a little inside. 25 more minutes left of class and I am free for the weekend. Time can't go by fast enough.

I decide to text him back, figuring whatever I need to know from this lecture will be on the PowerPoint I printed off that the Professor is currently reading word by word from.

_Count me in! Thanks for the invite_

He texts back in the next minute

_Anytime. Anything to help a friend for a friend. You'll have good old play boy whipped in no time with my master match making skills_

I laugh a little inside and text back

_Don't get too cocky. I've been known to scare guys away. I'm sure he will be running for the hills after tonight_

His reply is almost instant

_Have more faith in me Bella bee. After you receive my master advice, Eddikins will be eating right out of the palm of your hands! See you later_

I smile and put my phone away, attempting to focus back again on my professor

* * *

"For the last time, I don't care if I have to drag you by the hair you WILL be going to this party with us" Rose says to Alice who currently has head headphones in and is blaring on of her favorite country songs by Florida Georgia Line and ignoring our efforts to convince her to go out with us.

I walk over to Alice and snatch her headphones and throw them on the ground. "Alice I need you to be there" I plead and give her my best puppy dog look

She looks up at me "No. I don't think this is a good idea, therefore, I will not go and support this!" She protests.

"PPPLLEEAASSSEEEEE Allie Cat, I NEEEDDD you there. I'll even let you do my hair and make up" I continue to please. I know she'll cave as she loves to do my hair and make up and in the end, she'll come cuz she loves me and would do anything for a friend.

"Why must you do this to me Bella?" Alice agonizingly says and closes her eyes. After a couple seconds she opens them back up and gives me a fiery look.

"Go put on the dress and then go to the bathroom and sit in the chair" she demands.

I pull her into a big bear hug. "Thank you so much. I love you!" I say and follow her directions. She just rolls her eyes and smiles at me.

About an hour and a half later, my hair and make up is complete, Rose has changed her outfit about 14 times and Alice is all dressed and deciding what shoes to wear.

"Rose, do you think my blue sparkly flats or brown boots would go better with this outfit" Alice asks. She knows better than to ask me, as I am fashion challenged.

Rose looks at her outfit carefully, which consists of black leggings and white blouse that hugs her body and shows off her amazing curves, and replies "boots, they're more you" she says. Alice smiles and quickly puts on the boots.

"Alright guys, we ready to head out?" I ask. Rose nods her head while putting on her favorite pearl earrings. She looks great in a little black dress and heals. It will be a wonder if anyone notices me when I am alongside these two.

We all head out the door and give ourselves one last look in the mirror and head out.

"Everyone have their cell phones?" Alice asks as we head to the car. She's a stickler that we all have them in case of emergency.

"Yes mother" Rose says and Alice playfully bumps her hip with her own. "Just making sure. Better to be safe than sorry" Alice says as we all get in my car.

Rose sits shot gun and gives me directions to Emmett's off campus apartment.

"So Edward, Jasper, and Emmett all live in this apartment?" I ask

"Yup" Rose says while looking out the window. "It's a really nice place. They all have their own rooms and share a bathroom. It's a decent place" she says

"How many people do you think will be there?" Alice asks

"Probably a lot knowing Emmett. The place is going to be crammed." Rose answers and points to the right. "Turn on this street Bells" she tells me.

"God I hope Jasper's not gonna be there" Alice cringes and beside me I see Rose smile.

"He probably will be since he knows you're coming. He's petty smitten with you, ya know" Rose says. "Alright, here it is, turn into this parking lot" she says

"I have no idea why he is" Alice says "I've been nothing but a bitch to him, but he just kept hovering" and looks through her purse for something.

"Some guys like the hard to get act" Rose says and hops out of the car after I have safely parked.

"But I'm not playing any games. I am honestly not interested in him" She says as we all follow Rose into the building and up the stairs. I can already hear a loud thumping of music that is probably coming from Emmetts.

Rose stops in front of a door and knocks. Like anyone's gonna hear us I think, when suddenly Emmett opens the door with a smile on his face. He's only wearing a pair of black workout shorts, his entire torso on display for the world to see. Not that it's a bad sight or anything, the kid is jacked with an eight pack and sculpted muscles. It takes Rose a minute to speak, as it appears as though she wants to lick him

"Thanks for coming laides" Emmett yells, as that clearly is the only decimal he knows how to speak in and waves us in.

We enter the apartment and take in the scene around us. There's several people scattered all over the apartment drinking, talking and laughing. Some people are playing beer pong in what seems to be the kitchen. A few guys are camped out in front of the television playing some video game. In the far back corner I see Jasper who seems to be controlling the music from his computer that is hooked up to speakers.

"You've got yourself a nice place" Alice says, also taking in the scene around her. I wonder if she's spotted Jasper. I continue to look around in hopes to see Edward with no such luck.

"He's not here yet" Em says in a somewhat normal voice and slips his arm around Rose, who practically melts in his arms. It looks like someone has it bad as well.

"Well where the fuck is he" Rose asks

"A beer run. The douche bag only drinks one kind of beer. He's such a snob" Em says

"Whatever" Rose says "Let's go get drunk" and grabs Emmett's hand and starts to walk towards the kitchen. Alice and I follow her lead.

"Now leave this to the expert" gloats Emmett and begins to make us all drinks. Rose rolls her eyes but mutters "Yea, it is one of the few things he's good at"

"Rosie, you know I'm good at a lot of other things" Em says and winks at her

Alice and I look at each other and try not to throw up

We are all just hanging in the kitchen talking when I see Jasper approach Alice from behind.

He pokes her sides in a playful manner and she screams, nearly jumping out of her skin and turns around.

"How DARE you scare me like that" she screams and pokes him in the chest

Jasper just smiles "Come with me, I wanna show you something" and holds his hand out, anticipating for the moment she takes his hand.

"I'd rather eat shit and die you asshole" Alice snarls

"C'mon, you certainly weren't complaining last time we hung out. We had ourselves a great time. Perhaps I should refresh your memory" Jasper suggests in a hopeful tone. But I know Alice, and after that line, she now more than ever isn't going to give him the time of day.

"I cannot believe you had the nerve to just say that to me. You better watch it." Alice snarls, shaking from the rage that is clearly building by the second in her tiny body. Emmett starts to laugh "oohhhh man, this might be the first girl ever to turn you down" he says. Rose smacks him and tells him to shut up.

"I'll say whatever it takes for you to come back into my arms" Jasper says confidently and wiggles his outstretched arm, still waiting for Alice to grab his hand.

Alice just rolls her eyes and turns to look at me "I see someone I want to talk too. Text me if you need me" and confidently strolls past Jasper. He watches her walk away with a longing star and then walks in the other direction, muttering under his breath.

I look to see that Alice is now joining a game of beer pong on a table in the corner. I see that a couple girls that live in the same dorm with us are playing with her.

Rose gives me a soft tap on the elbow, and I tear my eyes away from Alice. "Em wants to play pool" and points over to the pool table that I hadn't seen when we first walked in "Will you be okay" she asks, with a slightly worried expression.

I force a smile "Yes" I say "If I need anything, I know where to find you

Emmett, who was just talking to some guy, looks back over at us. "Edward should be here soon. You two should talk" he says.

I just laugh and am about to tell him to get out of here when he suddenly yells "EDDIE OVER HERE" and starts to wave his hands. He then looks to me "Here's your chance"

I gulp and look away from him only to see Edward walking towards us. We make eye contact and my heart nearly stops. Oh gosh, here he comes.

"Hey guys" Edward addresses everyone. Rose smiles and gives a slight wave.

"Rosie and I were just gonna play some pool. Why don't you show Bella around." Emmett says. He then grabs Rose by the hand, practically running away. Rose blows me a kiss and follows his lead.

Great, like that wasn't obvious at all

Edward looks at me and smiles "Hey Bella" his silky voice says. God, I love the way he says my name.

"Hey! Some party you have here" I say and point around at all the different people that are here.

"Yea" he says and looks around "I have no idea who half these people are. Emmett just invites random people and word gets around." He laughs

"Oh boy, that sounds like something Emmett would do" I say

"Yea, that's Em for you. He walks over to the nearby counter and sets down the beer he bought. "Care for a beer? It's bud light, the only kind I can drink" he asks

"Sure" I say. Like I would say no to anything he offered. I throw away my red solo up that consisted of the drink Emmett gave me, after all it was practically finished.

I watch as Edward opened the box and took out two beers. We handed me one and we both opened the cans at the same time.

"Cheers" Edward said and held out his beer.

I clicked my beer against his "Cheers to what?" I ask

Edward smirks and says "To pretty girls" and takes a long sip of his beer

I blush and take a small sip of mine and watch as he finishes drinking and wipes his mouth with his hand.

"So what are you studying at Clarkson?" I ask Edward.

"I'm studying biology with hopes to get into medical school next fall" he says

"That's awesome" I proclaim. "You must be super smart to get past all those sciences. Lord knows I struggled with just getting through one. I thought I was going to die" I say and take a long sip of beer.

Edward cocks his head at me "What are you studying?

"Early childhood education, with hopes to go to graduate school" I say

"Cool" Edward says. "What made you want to be a teacher?" and chugs the rest of his beer and tosses it the crash. My grandmother would have a field day with that, as she's all about recycling.

"I have babysat all through high school and tutor some kids that live nearby a couple times a week. I just love working with kids and watching them learn" I gush. I love kids and the silly things they say.

"That's awesome Bella. I can see you doing that" Edward says

"What made you want to be a doctor?" I ask

"I'm kinda following my father's footsteps. I did a lot of internships and basically grew up in the hospital since my mom's a nurse and dads a doc" Edward smiles.

"That's awesome" I say

Edward smiles "Thanks"

We then talk for a while, sharing funny stories of our friends. At one point Edward has me laughing so hard when telling a story about how Emmett got cussed out by a manager at Wegmans from hitting on his cashier, who happened to be the manager's niece.

I'm about to fall on the floor from laughing so hard when two boys come into the kitchen and begin to make drinks. One of them looks our way and walks up to Edward "Yo Edward, nice party bro" and they both do some sort of handshake/ bro hug. The unfamiliar face looks at me and smiles "Hey I'm James, and this is my friend Laurent and points to his friend that is making a drink. He looks up at the mention of his name and waves

"I don't think I've ever seen you around before" James leers and looks me up and down, pausing briefly at my breasts. I'm just about to tell this creep where my eyes are when Edward coughs loudly

"Nah, I don't think so. I'm Bella" I say

"Nice to meet you, Beautiful Bella" James winks. Um gross, this is what I mean about weird men liking me. This James character looks like he hasn't washed his hair in a month.

Laurent finally joins us and gives Edward a pat on the back "Hey dude. Some party" Edward just nods. "James and I were gonna play beer pong, you guys wanna join us? We need someone to play with" he asks

Edward looks at me "What do you think Bella? Do you want to play? He asks.

"As long as you know I suck at beer pong. Rosalie and Alice will gladly support that statement" I laugh

"I'll take my chances" Edward flirts and looks at Laurent "We'll play"

"Sweet" James says and winks at me "You guys better watch out, I have extremely good hand-eye motor skills" I try not to cringe.

"Tone it down dude." Laurent says "You don't wanna scar the poor girl" Laurent smacks James head and starts to walk to the beer pong table that's now deserted. I briefly wonder where Alice went off to and hope she's okay.

I prove to be the worst beer pong partner Edward ever had and tells me so.

"God Bella, you really do suck" he laughs as the ball I had just thrown ended up hitting some guy in the head a couple feet away from the table. James and Laurent just shake their head. I gulp another shot and snort

"Don't say I didn't worn you" I laugh

Edward just shakes his head. He throws the ball and it perfectly lands in a cup. "Yea yea, and aren't you a professional" I elbow him playfully

"Years of basketball baby" Edward gloats

A couple shots later, and I decide to call it quits since I am getting a little dizzy from all the alcohol I had to consume.

"Alright guys, I loose. I'm gonna go sit before I topple over" I slurr

Edward looks worriedly at me "I'll go with you." And gives James and Laurent a goodbye wave and puts his hand on the lower part of my back to lead the way through the sea of people.

He walks me over to the kitchen table and pulls out the chair. I take a seat and sigh. Edward sits across from me. "Are you okay" he asks

"I'm fine" I smile "Just a little dizzy"

"Yea" Edward laughs "I bet. You weren't lying when you said you sucked"

I narrow my eyes playfully at him.

"Well well what do we have hear" an unfamiliar voice asks. I look up to see the one and only Miss. U.S.A looking down at us. I am once again stunned by her beauty, as I take in her long legs in a pair of red heels and skirt and a tube top that shows off her cleavage. Edward just looks annoyed.

"Didn't think I would find out about your little party Eddie?" Tanya says, and juts out her hip. Well, hello miss attitude!

"Whatever Tanya. I'm not playing any games tonight" Edward says

Tanya looks put out for a minute and then rolls her eyes

"That's not what you were saying a couple days ago" She says

Edward runs his fingers through his hair, something he does a lot I've noticed. No wonder why its all over the place, and looks into space with an angry face.

"What do you want Tanya?" he asks and looks back at her.

Tanya just shrugs and briefly looks at me. She looks me up and down with disgust and makes me feel like a piece of crap. I feel so ugly and worthless with her here and I shift uncomfortably in my chair. She glances back at Edward and leans down to whisper just loud enough into his ear so I can hear.

"Come find me later" and walks away, stopping to talk to a couple guys a few feet away. She looks back at me and glares, and then looks away and laughs at whatever her friend had just said. She throws back her long blonde hair and pushes out her cleavage. Her friend's eyes immediately look at them with lust.

"I'm sorry about that Bella" Edward says "That was Tanya. She's a bit complicated"

"Yea it looks like it" I say. I pull out my phone and quickly check the time. It's way late.

"Wow it's really late" I say

Edward looks at his phone and his eyebrows spring up in surprise "Yea it is, and we still gotta clean up after everyone leaves"

I look around me and see that the party has died down a little. I try to spot my friends, but from where I'm standing I can't see them.

"Well we better take off then so you're not up too late" I say

"Nah you're good. But if you guys gotta take off, then it's alright" Edward shrugs and gives me a half crooked smile. Gosh he's adorable. I just wanna kiss that grin off his face.

"Okay, well do you mind helping me find the girls?" I ask

"Not at all" he says and stands up. I stand up and follow him around the room. As we enter the living area, I see that Jasper and Alice are playing pool. Alice leans down and is about to hit the ball when Jasper does the classic move of standing right behind her and showing her the correct way it hit it.

She jumps up and shoves him back. He smiles and puts his hands up. Edward and I look at each other and laugh

"They are quite a pair" Edward says as we rush over there before Alice kills him

"What are you two love birds doing" I ask

Alice looks over at me "I'm just trying to prove a point to this asshole here that I can kick his ass in pool, but he keeps trying to feel me up. The next time he does it, I'm gonna shove this stick up his ass" and glares at Jasper again

"I was not trying to feel you up" Jasper protests "I was simply trying to help you shoot better"

"I'll show you how good I can shoot. And you can be the target" she comeback's with

"There's just no winning with you" he says

"Clearly" she says "I was kicking your ass in pool"

As they argue, they get closer and closer to each other. Right now, they are pretty much in each others face.

"Alright guys, let's calm down a little bit here" Edward says and pushes them slightly apart.

"Do you know where Rose and Emmett are?" I ask

Alice looks around. "I haven't seen her at all" she says and takes out her phone "She hasn't texted" and begins to call her

"I bet you they are in Em's room" Jasper says "Alice, do you wanna come see my room?" and flexes his bicep as he points to the right "It's just down that way"

"I'd rather jump off a cliff into a ocean full of sharks" she says and puts her phone back in her pocket and looks at me "She' hasn't picked up her cell."

"I'm gonna go knock on Emmetts door." Edward says and walks a couple feet away and bangs on a door.

"Yo get your ass out here Em" Edward shouts and walks back to us.

We're all talking about different ways to play pool, with Jasper and Alice bickering the whole time while Edward and I just laugh when finally Emmett and Rosalie emerge from his room clearly having just got down with a make out session or something as they are both flushed and disheveled.

"Good god guys, you really couldn't wait until the parties over" Jasper asks and slaps Emmett on the back

"Shut up dude" Emmett grins.

"Well it's getting late, and I'm ready to take off" Alice says and yawns.

"You sure you don't wanna spend the night in my room?" Jasper asks

"Do you ever NOT hit on me" Alice fumes

"Alright, enough's enough" I say "Thanks for the party guys. It was a ton of fun"

"Glad you guys could make it" Emmett says "I'll walk out with you guys" and we all start to head to the door. "I'll come with you" Edward says and walks beside me

Jasper jokingly runs to catch up with Alice and takes he hand "And I'll escort you out my dear"

Alice rips her hand out of his and runs away faster than a sprinter who has to pee.

"Jazz, you better stay in here and keep an eye on the party" Edward says and grabs him by the shoulder to keep him from running after her

"Yea alright" Jasper sighs and turns around

"Thanks for coming tonight" Edward says as we walk out the door and head down the stairs. Emmett and Rosalie are way ahead of us talking and holding hands. Edward and I lagg behind

"I had a great time" I say "Thanks for being my beer pong partner" and Edward laughs

"Yea I won't be doing that again" Edward jokes

"Do you have a busy weekend" I ask

"Nah, a little volunteer work at the hospital and cleaning up the apartment. Other then that, I got nothing else. You?"

I shake my head "I can't wait to sleep in" I say "What kind of volunteer work do you do at the hospital" I ask

"I work with the kids that have cancer. I get to read and do activities with them" he says and smiles. Well if that doesn't melt your heart, then I don't know what does. A man that's good with kids is one of my weaknesses, along with many other girls.

"That's awesome Edward!" I say "I bet it's so rewarding"

"It really is" He says and opens the door to his building and holds it out for me. I step out into the cool air and sigh. It feels good and help calm the dizziness that's still slightly there.

"Still dizzy?" Edward asks, seeming to notice my slight wobble

"Just a little. But I'm okay" I say

Edward puts his arm around me, and I instantly lean into him. "Just in case" Edward says and winks at me

I sigh in contentment. His arms feel so good around me.

We approach the car with Alice who is leaning against it, watching Edward and I and gives me a look when she notices Edwards arm wrapped around me. Emmett and Rose are making out in front of the car, as usual

"You guys still haven't gotten each other out of your systems?" I laugh

Emmett and Rose stop what they are doing and look at us. Emmett smiles while Rose cocks her eyebrow at me as she takes in my embrace with Edward.

Edward gives my shoulder a squeeze and I look up to him. "Have a safe ride back Bella. I'm sure I'll be seeing you again" and lets go of me. My body instantly misses the loss of his arm around me.

"Bella do you want me to drive" Alice asks

"Yea that would be great" I tell her and hand over my keys and give Edward a smile "Thanks for the great time" and wave and then walk over to the other side of the truck and crawl into shotgun

Rosalie gives Emmett and hug and quick kiss (thank god) and hops into the back. The boys watch us as we pull out of the drive way. I doze off in the front as Alice sings softly to some country song on the radio.

Finally we make it back to the dorm, all of us quiet and tired. After we get back into the dorm and get into our pajamas we turn off the light.

Rose has already sound asleep, not even bothering to change out of her close and is snoring softly. Alice is fluffing her pillow and pulls the covers over head. "I wanna hear all the DETAILS tomorrow" she says and turns on her fan and rolls over

I smile and quickly check my facebook before going to bed. I see that I have two friend requests. My heart stops as I see that one of them is Edward. I confirm and then smile as I turn my computer off. I put it down and drift of to sleep with happy thoughts

**Alright guys, give me some feedback! Did you like it?**


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay, mom" I say into my phone that I'm trying to hold between my shoulder and ear while I finish painting my pinky toe. After two strokes I put the brush back in the bottle and set it on my desk.

"I just think you should give this a chance. Jenny says he's a super sweet guy and knows how to treat a lady" my mother rambles on about a son of her friends that she's convinced would be my perfect match.

"We'll see ma" I say, knowing that she's going to continue to chat and take a closer look at my toenails. It's a pretty decent job considering I'm not very good at it.

"I'm just worried about you is all sweetie. You're so good at being independent, but you need to let a man into your life. And dating around will help you figure out what you want in a guy and who you want to spend the rest of your life with" and keeps going on about how I deserve a good guy and need to let someone take care of me and blah blah blah blah blah.

I'm so annoyed and really just want to through my phone across the room. I'm well aware that I'm single ma. No need to point it out and make me feel worse about my love life than I already am. I'm just about to make up an excuse to get out of this god awful lecture when I hear smoking alarms going off in the background "Oh sorry baby I gotta go" she frantically says "I tried to make one of Phil's favorite dinners but I must have left it in the oven for too long. Love you" and hangs up abruptly.

I hang up my phone and thank the heavens that conversation ended. While I love my mother, sometimes she can be a bit hard to handle. I know she means well but I'm just sick of hearing the same thing over and over of how I should have a boyfriend.

My mom doesn't get it. She always had a boyfriend. She had several boyfriends in high school and then in freshman orientation in college, she met my father. They dated for all four years of college, and got married shortly after graduation. And then 9 months later, boom baby Bella came screaming into the world

Of course having a baby brings a lot of problems into the relationship and from being so young, their marriage slowly fell apart. They divorced when I was about three, so I never remember a time when they were together, although they do remain good friends and get along.

After her past, you would think she would want me to be cautious and careful before marrying a guy, but my mother is a flighty woman, never staying anywhere for too long and falling in and out of love with things. However, right now she seems to be happy as she had just married a major league baseball player named Phil Dwyer. He's a nice enough guy and makes my mother happy so she's settled for right now.

After that conversation with my Mom, my mind travels to my father and how I should give him a call. While he's a man of few words, I know he loves me to the moon and back. If I'm honest with myself, I know that I have a closer relationship with my father. Which makes sense since I grew up with my father while my mother traveled and never stayed still. We lived in a small town a couple hours away called Forks, where he was the chief of police. I smile, thinking of all the good memories I have growing up with him.

"Bella get your pants on" Alice barges into the room, breaking my train of thought "We need to grab a quick dinner and get back so we can watch the bachelor" she says

"Give me like 5 minutes, my toes are almost dry" I say and wobble over to my dresser to pick out some sweats.

Alice sets her backpack on her desk and gives her watch a quick glance "Alright, that gives me time to pee and check my email" and quickly dashes out of the room and to the bathroom.

After a quick dinner Alice and I are camped out in front of the T.V. in the lounge of our dorm watching the first 5 minutes of the bachelor when Rose darts in "I'm late I'm late" she says frantically "What the hell did I miss?"

"Take a chill pill and sit your ass down, I can't hear what he's saying" Alice says

"Don't worry Rose, it's just beginning now" I say and wrap my blanket more closely around me. It's always so cold in here.

Rose plops down on the chair beside me and catches her breath

"So why were you late?" Alice asks Rose during a commercial break

Rose's face lights up and smiles "I was with Emmett and I lost track of time"

"Seems like your pretty smitten with him" Alice says

"Yea, you guys have been together for about a month. That's like the longest relationship you've had" I say

Rose leans over her chair and pokes me in the side, and I give a quick yelp, but doesn't argue. "He's just so great and treats me so well. Like with all the guys in the past, I've just felt like they wanted one thing. Em's different" she trails off, getting lost in her own world.

"I'm happy you've finally found a guy that can get past all your barriers" Alice says softly

"Yea, me too" Rose says "I've told him all about my Mother and how she's been married five times and how I never want to be like her and how my father wanted nothing to do with me" she says

Rose's parents were high school sweethearts, becoming pregnant with Rose right after graduation. When Rose's mother told her father she was pregnant, he became angry and told her to get rid of it. He had a full rid to college with a football scholarship and had no interest in raising a baby. Needless to say, Rose's mother had Rose and raised her all by herself.

When Rose was in high school, she tracked him down and found his address. She wrote him a letter asking him if she could meet him. He turned her down, saying he had his own family now and couldn't be bothered with his past mistakes. After that, Rose put up a wall and while she dated many guys, none of them unlocked her guarded heart.

"Wow Rose, that's awesome" I say giving her hand a squeeze. She squeezed back and looked and Alice and I, her eyes becoming all watery.

"Yea, he was super supportive and just held me" She says, whipping away a few tears that had managed to fall.

Alice gets up from her chair and gives Rose a good hug. "I am so happy for you Rose. It looks like Emmett could be the one" she says and releases Rose, giving her a quick kiss on the head.

"I think so too" Rose says bashfully and blushes a little

"Wait a second, is Rosalie Hale ACTUALLY blushing. I have got to document this I say" and pretend to look for my phone

"Don't you dare" Rose says and snatches away my phone before I can reach it.

I laugh "Just kidding Rose, I am beyond happy for you" and get up to give her a hug as well.

"Group hug" Alice shouts, and joins in the hug.

"Alright guys, enough with the sappy talk" Rose grunts, and pushes us off her. The vulnerable and emotional Rose that we just saw is now replaced to her old self.

The bachelor returns and Alice and I run to sit back down in our seats.

"Alright guys, no talking" Alice says and gives us a look that means business and becomes absorbed into the show.

I just shake my head and smile. Love works in mysterious ways.

* * *

It's a Tuesday morning, and I am in the computer lab in the science center, quickly checking my email before my class at 9 starts when I feel a tap on my shoulder.

As I am focused and in my own world, I nearly jump out of my skin. I turn around while clutching my heart.

"Hey Bella, didn't mean to scare you" Edward laughs

Now embarrassed more than ever, as I look like a dying hyena, I feel my face start to heat up and turn red.

"Oh it's fine, I spook easily" I say and take in the man in front of my. His hair is in the same messy look as always, and wearing jeans and a white lab coat.

"How are you?" he asks and sits down in the chair next to me.

"Good, not ready to go to class" I say, getting lost into his evergreen eyes "How about you?" I ask

"I feel you. I just came in here to print out some results I need and then I have to head back to lab" he says and turns away from me and begins to log into his email

"Oh wow, so you've already been awake and functioning?" I say

"Yea" Edward mutters "Since 7:30 a.m. this morning" he says and prints off whatever he needs and then turns to face towards me.

"So Em, Japer and I are playing again Friday night at the bar. They really liked us and offered us a spot to play for them every Friday. Do you think you can come?" He asks.

I'm just about to say absolutely when the door to the computer lab opens. "Edward, did you get…" the voice trails off

Edward and I look up to see Tanya standing in the door and looking at us. She's also dressed in a white lab coat, and her gaze focuses on me and hardens

"Oh I see" Tanya says and crosses her arms

Edward sighs "I gotta get back to class. See ya Bella" he says, snatches his paper from the printer and follows Tanya out the door, leaving me whip lashed. What the heck was that?

I look at the time and realize that it's time for me to head to class as well.

I do my best to pay attention in class, I really do, but my mind keeps trailing back to the scene that just happened. As if to make matters worse, it looks like Tanya has a class with Edward. It just feels as though she gets every piece of him. But what was that about Edward inviting me to watch his band play? If he was interested in Tanya, then he surely wouldn't invite me, right? Gosh all of this is giving me mind cramps.

"Alright Bella, can you tell the class why this book would be a great read-along for children" Mrs. Phelps asked.

Oh crap, I thought and answered the question as best as I could and made more of an effort to pay attention in class, blocking Edward from my mind.

* * *

"You should have seen the look she gave me. Let's just say if looks could kill, I would be flat on the floor" I exaggerate and take another sip of my diet coke. I am having lunch with Alice and telling her all about my little escapade between Tanya, Edward and I.

Alice's eyebrows furrow as she listens "She's crazy. It's like she's trying to claim her territory. Just like dogs pee on the ground! Essentially, she's peeing on Edward" she explains. "But Edwards not her boyfriend so it's just weird." Alice says and finished up her last piece of pizza.

"Ugh, and what do you think was up with the whole Edward asking me to come see his band? He acts like he likes me and maybe a little bit interested but I am confused about that whole Tanya situation" I say and angrily bite into my apple.

"Yea, that's weird. It kinda seems like he's playing you. He's giving you all these signals but then has Tanya on the side. It's shady" she says and gets up to put her plate in the dish return. I follow her lead.

"Yea, it is. But if Rose and I go to see the boys on Friday will you come with us?" I ask as we had back to our table and put on our jackets.

"I don't know. Jasper will most likely be there and that kid gets under my skin" she says

I open the door for her and we begin to head to our next class "C'mon Alice, don't let Jasper from stopping you to do something that you want to do" I say

"I'll have to think about it" she says. "Oh wait" she says and grabs my arm before I head to the building I have to go to "Speaking of Jasper, he friend requested me this morning."

"Did you accept it?" I ask and grin

"No. He's annoying. What game is he trying to play?" she frowns as she tries to figure it out

"I think he genuinely likes you Alice, and I think that you should think about the possibility of getting to know him" I carefully say, gagging her reaction. She looks at me as if I had suggested that eating bark helps your immune system function better.

"Are you kidding me? That guy purposefully tries to get a reaction out of me. I feel like he's making fun of me"

I shake my head "No way. He likes you. He's always flirting with you. And I think you secretly like it, even if you won't admit it"

"I don't know Bella" Alice says and slumps her shoulders like she has the weight of the world on them "Sure, he's really cute. But he's like junk food. He's really tempting but is the guilt really worth it after you cave and devour a whole bag of chips?" she asks

I think about what she says and figure out what to say next "Sometimes you have to stop thinking about it and take a chance. You can't always be afraid of getting hurt. It's okay to give in now and then" I say and give her shoulder a squeeze.

Alice looks at me and then rolls her eyes "Thanks Bells. I'll see ya later" and continues to walk to her next class.

I turn and walk into my building. Some guy holds the door open for me.

"Thanks" I tell the guy and grab the door.

"Bella?" the guy turns around. I look up and see a familiar head of greasy hair. "Hey James" I say and try to make my escape.

"How are you?" James asks and begins to walk next to me, very closely I might add. He's just close enough to make it creepy.

"Good. You?" I say shortly, trying to make it seem like I don't want to talk, cuz I really don't want to talk to him.

"Listen" he says and stops in front of me, blocking my path "I wanted to ask you at the party but never got the chance, but would you wanna go out sometime?" he asks, he gaze lingering at my boobs again. Gosh, he does he even realize how obvious he's being, or does he just not care. I really wanna slap him. Does he think I am not noticing this?

"Oh sorry James, I'm not really interested in dating right now. Too much on my plate at the moment. Thanks for the interest though" I say, sounding like someone turning down a job offer.

James finally breaks his gaze from my boobs and looks me right in the eyes and smirks.

"Didn't look like that to me when you were talking to Cullen" James leers "Makes sense though, all the girls are crazy about him"

I tilt my head and give him a hard look. "Okay James, it was nice seeing you but I really gotta head to class before I'm late" and begin to move around him

"Just be careful. Tanya doesn't play nice" James calls after me.

Well that so odd, why would he warn me about Tanya. This just gets more and more weirder.

I just keep walking, not looking back and rush into my class. My professor is just beginning the lecture, and sit in the closest free seat I see.

"You okay Bella?" my friend Jessica asks "You look like you just saw a ghost" she eyes me worriedly.

I give her a reassuring smile. "Yea, I'm fine, thanks though" and take out my notebook and pen from my back pack and frantically try to catch up with the notes my professor is now writing.

* * *

A couple days later, Rose and I are talking about the boys.

"So you're coming Friday night right?" Rose asks while browsing the internet

"Yea, I'm going. Now all we have to do is convince Alice to go" I laugh while trying to finish the word search that I am doing

"Yea her and Jasper are something aren't they. Whenever I'm at their place, Jasper always asks about her. He really likes her. Emmett says he can't remember the last time Jasper was hung up this bad on someone" she says

I circle a word I found and laugh "I really hope she gives him a chance. I think they would be cute together" I say

"Yea me too. Oh I forgot to tell you that I met the famous bitch today" Rose says

"Tanya?" I ask, my attention now focused on Rose

"Yea" she says, looking at me "Edward and her were working on some homework or whatever together at the apartment when I was over" and makes a face

"She's so annoying. Oh Edward you're so smart. Oh Edward, did you figure out the answer to number 2, I can't figure it out?" Rose mocks in a valley girl voice.

I laugh so hard I snort a couple times.

"I guess she's getting a bio minor and they have this class together" Rose says with disgust. "I can't stand her fake ass. I don't know how Edward puts up with it. Emmett says Jasper and him ask Edward that all the time but Edward just shrugs them off. Its weird" and stands up to stretch.

I've been wondering the same thing. I just find it strange that they've apparently hooked up and are spending all this time together yet they aren't in a relationship yet Tanya acts like they are. And why would James warn me about her? What have I gotten myself into.

* * *

"Alright ladies and gentleman, thanks for coming out!" Emmett yells into the microphone. "We'll be playing a couple covers of some popular songs. Hope you guys enjoy" and gives the microphone to Edward and walks back towards the drums.

Rose sighs dreamily as she stands between Alice and I a couple feet away from the stage. From this angle, we have a perfect view of the boys.

"I wanna pick up the pieces and build a lego house" Edwards magical voice fills the bar as he sings Ed Sheran's Lego house song. While there is soft chatter here and there, you can tell that everyone in the bar is listening and hooked onto his every word.

I look over to Alice and see her eyes darken, as her gaze is fixed on Jasper's long fingers strumming on his guitar. Jasper looks up at her, and Alice quickly looks away acting like she hadn't even noticed he was up there. I giggle softly at their little games.

"Gosh, they sound amazing" Rose gushes, her checks flushed and her eyes glowing with happiness. Ever since she let her guard down to Emmett, she's been even more relaxed and happy than ever.

I nod in agreement and look around the bar. Everyone's sipping on their drinks and bopping their head to the beat. Suddenly, a head of blond hair swaying in the front catches my eye. I narrow my eyes and move my head to the side and try to get a better view.

The blonde girl turns to the side to talk to her friend, and I immediately recognize her side profile, and my heart stops.

It's Tanya.

I nudge Alice and whisper "Tanya's up there, in the front"

Alice tries to look, but the bar is so crowded and she's so short. "I can't see her" she says as she tries to peer over people.

"This sucks" I say. Why does she have to be everywhere? I was having a great time when I wasn't aware of her existence, and now suddenly, everywhere I look she's there. I scowl in her direction and bore a hole in the back on her head.

"Don't let her ruin your night. Be the better person and just try to ignore her. Remember, Edward asked YOU to come tonight. Cheer up" she says and takes a sip of her Shirley temple

The band plays a couple more songs and as soon as Edward finishes up the last song, the whole bar erupts into applause, and a couple people whistle.

I come back from the bar, needing a second beer after seeing Tanya, and navigate back towards my friends. I make it back and see that Emmett and Jasper have now joined us.

Emmett has his arm around Rose, and is talking to Jasper.

"Dude, I'm thinking that for next week we should try some Carrie Underwood songs." and sips on his fruity drink that's all pink and even topped with an umbrella. Well if any guy can pull off drinking that, then it's Emmett.

"Nice drink Em" I snicker

"Now don't judge a man on his drink Bella" Emmett laughs "I don't its fair that it's perfectly acceptable for a girl to enjoy this fruity deliciousness and look cool, but when a very manly man drinks it" he says and flexes his muscles for emphasis "it's considered queer."

Jasper shakes his head. "Whatever you say Em" and laughs "And about the Carrie Underwood comment, how they heck do you even know about her? You HATE country." He says

"Well, a couple days ago when you were cooking stir fry, Edward and I heard and saw you singing and dancing along to _Jesus take the Wheele_. And I have to say, that song moved me. I asked Jesus to take my Wheele a couple days ago" Emmett laughs.

Jasper turns bright red, which is hilarious since he's that tattooed rocker with all those piercings and the sight of him blushing just doesn't make sense "I was NOT dancing. And hey, don't judge Carrie. She's AWESOME!" he yells, making several people look our way.

"I love Carrie Underwood" Alice pips up in the back. "She's one of the few female country singers that I can stand to hear" she says

Jasper's face brightens up "Aww see Alice, we have the same taste in music. Clearly that's a sign that we should be together" and playfully winks at her.

"Don't push it buster. Let's take it one step at a time. I just accepted your facebook friend request. Don't make me regret that" she says in an irritated tone.

"I'll be on my best behavior from here on out. Scouts honor" Jasper says and gives her a salute.

Alice rolls her eyes and takes another sip of her drink, but if you look closely enough, like I am, you can see a small smile playing on the edge of her lips.

We're all laughing as Emmett gets a little bit tipsy from a second fruity drink he's consumed and attempting the hula when Edward suddenly appears, and of course Tanya is hanging onto his arm.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Edward asks.

"Doing the HULA!" Emmett yells and proceeds to do the hula around Edward.

"Em, have you been drinking those fruity drinks that you insist is life changing?" Edward laughs

"Don't judge me Eddie boy. One day you'll give into curiosity and try one and understand what I am talking about" he says.

"Great job tonight Edward" I gather up the courage and say, looking right at him. I notice Tanya from the corner of my eye give me a look, but I just ignore her. She's not worth my time.

"Thanks Bella" Edward says, but his voice seems off, it's not as relaxed and smooth like it has been in the past when we've talked.

"Eddie, you've said hi to your friends, now can we please head out of here?" She nags.

Alice and Rose both look at her in disgust. Emmett and Jasper just seem annoyed.

"Yea, sure. Well it was great to see you guys. Em and Jazz, I'll see you back at the house" he mutters and allows Tanya to drag him away into the sea of people.

"Who the hell does that bitch think she is" Alice says, still glaring in their direction.

"And that would be Tanya" Emmett says and gives me a sympathetic look "Sorry Bells, I had no idea that she would be here. I'm almost positive Edward didn't' invite her. She probably just showed up. That would be typical for her to do" and rolls his eyes

"It's alright" I force a smile. I take my last sip of beer, finishing it off. Suddenly I feel too crowded and overwhelmed and really just want to go back to the dorm and crawl into bed.

Rose and Alice look at me and immediately know that I am ready to leave. "Alright guys, it's been fun but we gotta head out of here" Rose says.

They both look disappointed and nod understandingly.

"Bye babe, text me when you get home" Emmett says and gives Rose a quick kiss.

"Excuse me, can I talk to you for a minute" Jasper, who suddenly is beside Alice and is quoting Durrell from the can I have your number skit.

"No" Alice mutters and tries to walk away but Jasper gently grabs her elbow "I just wanted to let you know that the back of your head is ridiculous" he laughs "Can I have your number" and wags his phone in front of her face

"Oh my god shut up" Alice laughs and shoves his hands out of her face and begins to walk away

"Thanks for accepting my friend request" Jasper yells at her retreating form.

* * *

"I just don't understand why she was there. And why did Edward leave with her after inviting me to go see him play" I moan and take another bit of my cookie dough ice cream.

Alice, Rose and I are all cuddled in my bed, in our pajamas eating ice cream that we had stopped to get on the way back from the bar.

"Yea, what an asshole. What the fuck is up with is dick" Rose says, setting her ice cream on my desk beside her.

"We won't have a dick after I'm through with him" Alice mutters, shoving her birthday cake batter flavored ice cream in her mouth and dropping some on her shirt. "Oh crap" she says and scoops in from her shirt and puts that in her mouth.

I laugh "ugghhh why are all men so confusing. Or maybe I'm just over-reacting" and groan in pain from the brain freeze that I am no experiencing. I get carried away when it comes to ice cream and eat it much too fast.

"Nah, he's a dick. Let's watch some funny vines and go to bed in a happy mood. Don't let him bring you down. No guys worth that" Alice rants, and jumps off my bed and puts her ice cream in our mini freezer.

I smile, grateful for her and her positive attitude. Rose pats my back reassuringly. "She's right Bells" and yawns.

* * *

I'm folding my clothes the next day when my phone blares, signaling an incoming text. I pause what I am doing, and pick up my phone from my bed and read it. It's a text from Emmett.

"_Bellarina, cook out tonight. Hots, hamgrraagguuerrrss and maybe some shabanging starting tonight at 6. Eddie will be there without the girl who shall not be named. Bring yourself and look hot._

"Rose" I yell and she comes barging in the door, her hair half curled

"What is it?" she asks

"Emmett just texted me about a cook out" I say and she takes my phone and reads the text message.

"As long as that whore won't be there, I'm game" she says

"Do you think it's a good idea?" I ask

"I don't see why not. Just don't let Edward off the hook too easily" Rosalie gives me a quick wink and goes back to the bathroom to finish curling her hair.

I text Alice, who is at the library studying like usual, and inform her of out plans for the night.

We arrive at the apartment, and Alice knocks in a rhythmic pattern.

Jasper opens the door, and he's wearing an apron that says kiss the cook.

"Ladies, welcome to our humble abode" he says

"You're so weird Jasper" Rose says and attempts to brush by him

"Now wait a second there Blondie" Jasper says "There's one thing you have to do for me before you can enter" and taps his check with his index finger.

Rose narrows her eyes at him, gives him the quickest of kisses on the check and barrels through the door leaving Alice and I stuck out here.

Jasper laughs and then looks at us expectantly.

I roll my eyes and give him a quick kiss on the check as well. He lets me in, and I watch from the other side of the door as I am curious to see what Alice is about to do.

"Now for you my lady, the rules are different" Jasper says and taps his fingers on his mouth.

"I am so NOT going to do that you weirdo" Alice says

Jasper laughs and shakes his head. "Fine, fine, I promised to behave and I am not one to break my promises" and lifts up his arm to let her in. Alice huffs and struts in. Jasper turns around to admire her form.

"I hate to see you walk away from me, but I sure do enjoy the view when you do" Jasper jokes.

Alice turns around and raises her eyebrows at him.

"Sorry, I couldn't help that one" Jasper says

"Ladies, you made it" Emmett emerges from the kitchen and seems to be wearing what looks like a hair net.

"Are you wearing a hair net" I ask, getting closer to him and examining it.

"Why yes Bellagna" and bends down in order for me to get a better view "I can't have food getting in my hair and messing up all its glory" he shakes his head and straightens back up

"Yea and the fact that he sheds like a dog. On our second date he made me dinner, and the mashed potatoes had several hair strands in it. So now I make him wear one when he cooks" Rose giggles and gives him a loving kiss on the check.

Emmett looks down at her affectionately. "Baby come help me in the kitchen" and takes her hand and drags her away.

"Is that country music I hear?" Alice asks and looks around to spot where it is coming from. She loves her country music and can spot it from anywhere usually naming and stating the artist perfectly.

"Yea, my computer is playing some Jason Aldean" Jasper says

"You like country music" Alice asks, looking shocked

"Oh yea, been listening to it since I was in diapers. Born and raised in Georgia baby" Jasper says, accentuating his southern accent.

"I have got to check out your selection" Alice says, and I am pretty sure she is swooning. She is always saying that her future man has to be a country lover

"I'll gladly show you my spotify list" Jasper excitingly says and leads her over to his computer which is lying on the couch. Jasper sits down, and places his computer on his lap. Alice sits down next to him and they both look through his list, bickering here and there about how good a song is.

"Hey Bella" Edward says tentatively, coming up from behind me and taking a place at my side.

"Hey" I say, not looking at him, and paying even more attention to Alice and Jasper who are now laughing. They look so cute and care free.

"Look so I'm really sorry about the other night" Edward says nervously and runs his fingers through his hair. I smirk inside, feeling good at the fact that he is nervous. Good, he should be. "I had no idea that Tanya would be there. I know she's a bit much to handle and I'm sorry if she said anything to offend you" he said

I turn toward him "Edward, she might be a lot to handle, and isn't exactly the friendliest person I've ever met in my entire life, but it was your behavior that hurt the most. You invite me to go watch you play, and then ignore me the entire night and don't even acknowledge me. That's what hurt" I turn to look at him "It was just really disappointing" I say

"I see. I'm so sorry Bella" Edward says and looks away dejectedly

I sigh. Boys are so stupid sometimes.

"Alright guys, the food is ready. So get your asses in here before I eat it all" Emmett announces and heads back into the kitchen.

We all scramble into the kitchen, stack out plates and sit in dinning room table.

We all dig in, moaning in pleasure as it is so good and beats the cafeteria food our college provides us.

"So how was all your classes this week ladies" Emmett asks us between bites of his triple decker that he had made for himself.

"Good, we have this test on Monday for Statistics next week so we've all been studying." Rose says

"Are you guys all in the same class?" Jasper asks

"Yep. But we'll be fine" Alice says confidently

"Yea, you girls may be because your math geniuses, but I am probably going to fail" I mutter

"You don't like math?" Edward asks

"Nope, it makes me cry. It's like a foreign language to me" I say

"Maybe I could help you. I'm pretty good at math" Edward says

"Good luck with that" Rose says "While I love Bella, tutoring her in math is probably the must frustrating thing I've ever had to do." Alice nods in agreement. "It's true. And normally I am a very patient person" she says

"Yea, I would say that they are being bitches and exaggerating, but I can't say I blame them" I say and smile "I cry a lot, and throw things"

"Yea, she nearly ripped my head out one time when I tried to help her" Alice adds

"I almost got taken out with a book" Rose quips in

"Wow, who knew little bellie boop could be so violent" Emmett says with a mouth full of food.

"Emmett if I have to tell you one more time to finish your food before talking, then I'll show you who's really violent" Rose says

"As much as I value you my own life, I love a good challenge when I see one. My offer still stands. I would love to help you" Edward says and gives me a wink.

As much as I still want to be angry at him, I really want to take him up on his offer. I think about the situation last night, and begin to think that I might have been over reacting a little bit. After all, it's not like we're together. I look at Edward, and decide it's an offer I can't refuse. Now not only do I get to spend some extra time with Edward, I also get some help in a subject I am terrible in and get a better grade. And while I would rather do many other things with Edward then work on my math homework, I'm pretty desperate and decide to take whatever I can take.

I shoot him a grateful smile "Well if you're sure you don't mind. I hope you realize what you're taking on" I say

"Bring it on" Edward says

**Alright guys, please review and let me know what you think! What do you think is going to happen! Love you guys and thank you so much for reading! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

I'm in my room putting some things I need in my book bag when Alice comes in, returning from her class.

"Another tutoring session? Or should I say love fest?" Alice asks, eyeing the calculator that I had in my hand.

"Alice" I stay sternly "don't call it that. You know better than to get my hopes up" I say and put my calculator in my bag and zip it up "but to answer your question, yes I am going over to Edwards for a bit, but I'll be back in time for dinner" and begin to put on my jacket

"ugh, fine leave me all alone with nothing to do" Alice says and dramatically makes a stabbing motion to her heart. "but I have to say, after all these tutoring sessions you will be bound to double your score you got on your first test" she responds and sits on her bed

"Yea, that's my goal" I say. I've been meeting Edward at his place about three times a week for the past two weeks. The second statistics test is next week, and I have to say I feel pretty good. Edwards an excellent teacher, with the patience of a saint and is able to help me work through it even when I become frustrated and bitchy.

"Yea that and to kiss him. Edward and Bella sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G" Alice sings at the top of her lungs.

I roll my eyes "Alice you sound like the kids I tutor" and open the door "I'll see ya later" and walk out.

"Bye loser" Alice says just as the door slams shut.

I make my way to Edwards and let my thoughts wonder. The past couple weeks have been great with being able to spend some time with him. I found out that he's an only child, but has so many cousins that were always over so it felt like he had siblings. One of his cousins had been diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 8 and passed away shortly after and that was a motivating factor for him to become an Oncologist.

Luckily, ever since the bar extravaganza, I haven't had any run ins with Tanya which also factored into my good mood. And with no sights having been reported back to me from Rose, I'd say that Tanya has other things occupying her time, at least I hope!

I finally make it to Edwards and he opens the door quickly after I knock.

"Hey Bella, c'mon in. I need you to try something" Edward says and sprints to the kitchen.

I follow his lead, dropping my bag on the kitchen table.

Edward takes out what looks like cookies from the oven and places them on the stove.

"I made cookies" he explains "Or at least I tried" he says

I come closer to him and take a better look and try not to laugh "Were you going for the really crunchy cookies?" I say. The cookies were badly burnt, almost black. I couldn't even tell what kind of cookies they were. The smell was terrible and filling up their apartment.

Edward playfully swats my hand "Shut up Swan, I happen to like my cookies burnt" and takes one cookie and plops it into his mouth. The look on his face as he attempts to chew it is priceless. His eyes get all big and his nose wrinkles in disgust. He spits out the ruminants in the skink. I can't stop laughing at his silly expression.

"Your face" I say between giggles

"You know it's not nice to make fun of someone's cooking who has kindly offered to tutor you, for free I might add" Edward jabs

"Yea, I should probably give you some cooking lessons in exchange for all these tutoring sessions" I joke

"yea yea, alright let's get down to business" he says and sits down at the table.

I walk over and sit across for him. "Alright the teacher is going over standard deviations and I have this online assignment that goes along with it." I say and flip open my book and turn it towards him

After an hour of me threatening to set this math book on fire and almost crying in desperation, we finally finish the homework assignment.

"Wow, all that math gave me a headache" I say and rub my temples on the side of my head.

"But you made it through" Edward says optimistically and gets up.

"You want some coffee?" Edward asks, and pours himself a cup.

"Sure, I'd love some" I respond. He reaches up to grab a cup, and the t- shirt he is wearing lifts up a little. My mouth waters as I see his happy trail traveling down to a place I am so desperate to see.

He hands me a cup of coffee and sits back down at the table.

"So you ready for break" he asks, pouring some sugar into his coffee. We have a February break coming up in two weeks and I am so eager for it!

"Yea, I can't wait. It's been a while since I've seen my dad" I say, taking a sip of my coffee

"Where you from?" he asks, circling the top of his mug with his finger

"Forks, it's a small town about three hours away from here" I say, watching his long fingers wrap around his mug. "You?" I ask

"I'm local, just about 15 minutes away from here. I commuted the first two years I was in college" Edward says "Now it's just you and your dad that live there then? I remember you saying something last time about how your mom was in California." He says, and takes a sip of coffee. I watch his Adams apple go up and down as he swallows. God, even just watching that turns me on. I shift in my chair, trying to dull the ache that's building between my thighs.

"Yea my father lives there home alone. I worry about him a lot, but he has a buddy that lives close by and they fish almost every weekend depending on the weather so he's not totally alone. My mom is living in California with her current husband Phil" I say "You going home for break?" I ask

"Yea, I'll go home and spend some time with my parents. Although, now that I'm gone, they tend to not be so careful about what their doing if you know what I mean. So I try to let them have their space" he laughs

"Oh my. That must have been so embarrassing. That's cute that they still do that though. They must be so in love" I say, covering my mouth with my hand, so I don't spit out coffee from laughing.

"Yea, the last time when I was there, I got up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and almost walked in on my parents doing it on the kitchen counter." He shakes his head "They've been together for about 25 years, their anniversary is coming up" he explains, making a face and closes his eyes

"It sounds like they have an amazing marriage though. I can only hope that one day, I'll be caught in a passionate embrace by my son because my husband and I still can't keep out hands off each other" I grin

Edwards's expression turns serious and studies me "Yea, hope you find that" he says

"BABY YOU A SONG YOU MAKE ME WANNA ROLL MY WINDOWS DOWN AND CRUISE" Jasper sings as he walks into the room. Edward and I jump away from each other in surprise, and I realize that we had been leaning in closely when talking.

"Oh hey guys. What's that terrible smell?" Jasper says and makes a face as he walks into the kitchen in a pair of work out shorts and a t-shirt, looking all sweaty, and fetches himself a glass of water. He turns around, taking off his headphones, and eyes us.

"Edward attempted to make cookies" I laugh "I like the song you're singing Jasper" I say "Alice has been obsessed with that song for the past month."

"Yea, she showed me a couple of songs that I should check out, and that was one of them. I love it" he says enthusiastically and chugs his water and lets out a huge burp.

"Classy" Edward sarcastically mutters.

"Well, it seems as if you two are finally hitting off. No more tearing off each others throats?" I ask

"She's a feisty little thing, but I like it. And as for the getting a long comment, I think so. I just take what she will give me. And if sending songs to me over spotify is what she'll give them, then I will take it" he explains, his gaze far off. Maybe he's thinking about her.

"Alice is a tough cookie. She doesn't trust easily and isn't going to just settle for just anyone. She's going to test you and see what you can handle" I tell him

"I am up for the challenge" Jasper boasts but then turns serious "I am going to try to earn her trust. I'll do anything for a chance with her" and then leans down to give Edward a hug.

"Get off me dude" Edward laughs and shoves him away

Jasper then gives me a look and walks towards me.

I jump out of my chair and back away. "Don't you dare" I yell

Jasper runs after me, and after a good chase he manages to grab me and pulls me into a bear hug. "Ewww let go of me" I scream and try to wiggle out of his grasp "You stink and are covered in sweat" and begin to hit him on the head.

"Be careful with her Jasper" I hear Edward call, his voice filled with concern

Jasper just laughs and walks over to the couch and throws me on it and then sits down beside me "Thanks for the advice Bell" he says, and scratches his head, looking a little bit embarrassed "I really like her" he confesses.

"I think she likes you too" I say and playfully ruffle his hair "Just don't blow it or I'll kick your ass"

* * *

"Grrrrrrrrrr we still have another page to do! I feel like we've been doing this forever" My friend Jacob complains and leans back in his seat and stretches. A girl who was walking by out table eyes him appreciatively. I don't blame her as I can certainly see the appeal. Jacob has short black hair and that beautiful Indian skin. Combined with those baby brown eyes and impressive build, he's quite the looker.

Jake and I are sitting at one of the tables in the library, attempting to get this project that we have due tomorrow finished. Jacob and I go way back to freshman year and became friends instantly. We have a ton of classes together as he is an early childhood education major as well. Heartthrob I'll tell ya!

"Oh toughen up big guy, we're almost done. But if you keep on complaining then it's only going to take longer" I say and flip our sheet over only to be faced with more questions that he was talking about.

"Fine fine, lets just get this over with" Jacob mutters and starts to flip through the pages our textbook.

Jacobs a great guy to work with. Easy going, friendly and hard working. We had a thing a couple years ago. While we never got around to dating, we ended making out at several parties but after a while it got old and decided it would be better off if we stayed friends. He's more like a brother to me anyways, and I'm pretty sure he thinks of me as a sister. Whatever the case, I'm glad we're still friends.

We're talking about an answer to one of the questions that our professor wants us to present to the class when I see Edward randomly appears out of the book shelves near our table.

I must have been starting for quite some time because Jacob turns around to see what I'm looking at.

"See something you like Swan?" Jacob smirks

I just glare back at him "What, a girl can't simply enjoy the view?" I ask

"Nah, you just look like you're a dog and he's the last piece of stake on earth" he laughs

I laugh along with him, and we must have been louder than I thought because Edward looks over from the books to see what all the noise is coming from. Oh crap, now I'm caught ogling him! I give an awkward wave, and after what looks like hesitation, Edward walks over to us.

"Hey Bella" Edward says as he makes it to our table.

"Hey, what brings you to the library" I ask

"Doing some research for one of my labs. It's taking me longer than I wanted too" Edward grieves and glances at Jacob.

"Yea, I know what you mean. It's taking us forever to get through this assignment. But it doesn't help that this one here keeps complaining every 5 seconds" I joke

Jacob looks up from the book and rolls his eyes

"This is my friend Jacob" I say "And Jake this is Edward" and point to him. They both eye each other curiously.

"I think I've seen you around before" Jacob says, looking at Edward with intensity

"Yea, you look familiar too" Edward answers, squinting at Jacob, trying to find out how he recognizes him.

After a few minutes of this awkward stare down Jacob's face lights up with understanding and snaps his finger "oh I know, you used to see that Tanya girl and I dated her roommate Lauren" Jake says "I used to see you sometimes at their sorority house"

Edward looks uncomfortable and shuffles his feet "Oh yea, I remember that" and glances nervously at me.

Great, I think. How serious is this thing with Tanya. Spending time at her sorority house? What was that all about?

"You still with Lauren?" Edward asks Jake, and sets the couple books he was holding on the table.

"Nah, that ship sailed. Too high maintenance." Jake says

I tap my pencil anxiously and try to signal Jake with my eyes that I really want this conversation to end.

Edward takes a quick look at the clock on the wall and groans. "Well, I better head back to my research if I wanna make it out of here at a decent time. It was good to see you Bella"

"You too" I smile up at him "Good luck with your research"

"You've got it bad Bells" Jake says as Edward walks away

I kick him under the table

"OOWWWW" Jake says and leans down to rub the spot where I kicked him

"Serves you right you jerk!" I rumble

He just laughs and shakes his head. "Alright, just be careful. Tanya and him had some weird thing back in the day. Not sure what's going on with that, but don't let him string you along. You deserve better than that" he says, being serious

"I won't. Thanks Jake" I grin "Now let's get back to the project" and we get back to work.

* * *

"What do you think of this one" Rose asks, and twirls around in a dress that she's trying on. It's a high low lace dress that hugs her body just right. It looks so good on her you can't help but be envious of her figure. She's got that perfect hour glass shape that girls spend hours at the gym working for.

"Why do you have to be so pretty?" I ask and watch her as she looks herself over in the mirror again

"It doesn't make me look fat" she asks, patting her tummy and making a face

"Rose, don't even get me started. You're the farthest thing from fat" Alice says enviously

"I know, but it's nice to hear it every once in a while" Rose says, looking back at us with a happy smile "I think this is the one" she says, doing one last twirl for us.

Rose, Alice and I are all shopping and helping Rose pick out the perfect dress. Emmett's parents have some charity event that Emmett has to attend and asked Rose to be her date. Rose is freaking out because it's the first time she will meet his parents, really the first time meeting a guy she's been dating parents ever. Needless to say, she's a wreck. Which is pretty funny because Rose is usually very put together and doesn't let her feelings show much.

"You look perfect" Alice adds, giving her a reassuring smile "Emmett will die when he sees you"

"I hope so, it's off the clearance rack though, do you think anyone will be able to tell? This is a high class function and I bet even is going to be wearing the latest style." Rose says nervously, fidgeting with the price tag that's attached to the side of the dress.

"No, it's beautiful. No one will be able to tell, and if they do and make a big stink about it, then the can come suck my dick" I say, letting Rose know I have her back. Emmett comes from a rich family, and she was raised by a single mother and money was never in abundance.

"Those dresses are over rated. They way I see it, if you can find a dress that looks just as good as those expensive name brand dresses for half the price, then it's your win and their loss" Alice says, and stands up, fixing Rose's dress that had become wrinkly in one spot.

Rose takes a deep breath, "Alright, I am gonna buy this" and heads back into the fitting rooms.

After Rose buys the dress, we all wonder around the mall, looking for the next store to head into. Alice sees a Bath and Body works, and drags us into there.

"I'm just not good at making a first impression. Like with one of the guys I dated in high school, the first time I met his parents, I was in nothing but his t-shirt. It was so embarrassing. His mother hated me." Rose says

"Hold the phone, how the hell did that happen?" Alice asks while spraying the test bottle of perfume on her wrist. She then smells herself and makes a face and puts back the bottle.

"Well, Embry had told me that his parents were out of town for the weekend so he wanted me to come over and spend the night. So I went over, and we ended up fooling around. Anyways the next day we decided to make pancakes for breakfast. I just put on his shirt, and in the middle of doing that, his parents walked in the house, coming home early from their weekend get away" Rose laughs "You should have seen the look on his mothers face. And the dad couldn't stop stating at my legs. He just looked at Embry and said good job son!"

Alice and I burst into laughter. Only Rose would get stuck in a situation like that.

"Well just act like the Virgin Mary and his parents will love you" Alice says, browsing through all their selections of lotion.

"Do you need help finding anything?" A saleswoman asks us as she walks over

"Yea, I was wondering if you have the country chic perfume." Alice asks

"Yes, follow me" she says and walks away.

"Well that would be impossible, since it's been like 10 years since Rose has been a virgin" I utter as the sales woman walks away, leaving Alice in her element of spraying the perfume all over herself.

"Settle down with that Alice or the whole store will smell like it" Rose says, flicking Alice lightly on the shoulder. "And shut up Bella, you're no virgin yourself" Rose blazes.

"Oh yea, I forgot about Tyler, that dude that had an obsession with potatoes" Alice says, and begins to walk out of the store.

"Did we really go in the store just for you to spray yourself?" Rose asks Alice and she just answers with a proud nod. Rose then looks at me "And oh yea, I forgot about Mr. Potato" she snorts.

"Ugh why did you have to bring him up? You know I try to block that horrible mistake out of my memory" I complain.

Tyler was my first and only boyfriend. I met him when I was a freshman. He was in my intro to literacy class and sat right next to me. Since I knew no one in the class, I would talk to him. He asked me out mid way through the semester and I was stupid enough to say yes. He was a weird kid, having been home schooled and growing up on a farm. On the farm, they grew potatoes and he was obsessed. He knew all the different ways to fry, back and make all different things with potatoes. I had no idea about the limitless amounts of ways you could eat this particular carbohydrate. For my birthday, he made me a potato cake.

Anyways, he was my first time, and it's something I will always regret. It was awkward and messy and it hurt like a bitch. Luckily for me, he transferred to another college, and our relationship ended. I always look back and wonder why I had sex with him. I wasn't in love with him. I think I was just lonely and wanted to feel wanted. After that experience though, I've decided to wait until I'm in love with someone. Sex should feel magical and wonderful and feel connected to that person. With Tyler, it was boring and mindless, never getting any pleasure from it.

"God that kid was weird. I always wonder why you settled for him" Alice discloses

Not wanting to talk or think about it anymore, I decide to change the subject "Are we all done here?" I inquire

"Yea, but hey I texted Emmett earlier saying we were shopping for a dress for me and he wanted to know if you guys wanted to him up with him and the guys for dinner. There's a place called Champs, it's a sport bar just a few minutes away from here that they wanted to go" Rose says, and looks through her phone to show me the message.

"Alright, we can do that, I'm starving" Alice says and I nod in agreement, handing Rose's phone back to her. We all make it out of the store and walk to my truck,

We make it to the restaurant and the hostess leads us over to the booth that the boys are sitting at, having made it there before us.

"I just don't understand why you want us to give Carrie Underwood's songs a try, but when I suggest trying one of Taylor Swifts songs, you act like I've gone crazy" Emmett is telling Jasper.

"Please don't sing a Taylor Swift song" Alice says, taking a sweat next to Jasper, who now looks like he's won the lottery. "She sucks" she says and flips through the menu.

"Great minds think alike" Jasper says and slowly puts his arm around the back of her chair.

Alice eyes the movement and tenses, seeming to be battling a mini war inside her head but then slowly thaws and smiles up at him "I just can't stand her, she's so whiney. Like, the bitch needs to write a song that says maybe I'm the problem."

Jasper throws his head back and howls.

Emmett glares at them "T swizzle is awesome. All that shit about feeling 22 is the bomb. I dance like a mother fucker when I hear that song" he proudly states.

Rose smirks at him and runs her fingers through his hair as she sits next to him. Emmett closes his eyes in pleasure, looking like he is about to purr.

"Is that who we caught you signing along too with your hair brush in the bathroom mirror a couple days ago" Edward asks, and looks at me. We're sitting next to each other and our elbows are almost touching. I feel the electricity between us crackle as we make eye contact. It feels as though everyone slowly fades out and it's just us.

"Yes, you can judge me all about knowing the words to you belong with me, but I don't care. I like what I like" Emmett says, popping our bubble, and then steals a couple glimpses of the TV's around playing some football game.

The waitress comes to our table and asks us what we would like for drinks, pausing for a moment too long when taking Edwards. I notice the way her eyes linger appreciatively at him.

"So Bella, what kind of music do you listen to?" Edward asks, while everyone else is absorbed in their own little conversations.

"I'm a country lover too. Alice got me hooked and now that's all my ipod is filled with" I admit. "What about you?"

"Just about anything" he says and grins..

"Even Folk music?" I inquire, raising my eyebrows.

"A little bit" he shrugs "but I mostly love classical. I find it soothing, especially in a time where I am stressed" he says. Shyly looking at me.

I give him a smile "My dad loves classical. That's all he plays in the house. Debussy's his favorite"

"That's one of mine" Edward says enthusiastically.

I laugh at his excitement, and I find this side of him to be cute. He's all cute and giddy when he talks about his music.

"But the music you play is hardly classical" I state, studying him.

"Yea Emmett and Jasper keep up with the times. I'm like an old goon; I don't really keep up with it. But I love playing anything, I just get in a zone" he says

The waitress comes back with our drinks, giving me a nasty look as she notices that Edward and I are huddled up together and talking. It looks like she's trying to figure out if we are together. Her staring is starting to piss me off, and I'm really tempted to give her the middle finger. I look up to see if Edward is noticing this, but he's still looking at me, giving me a warm smile. My heart melts a little and I smile back at him. Take that bitch, I think as she sets down my drink.

I almost want to laugh at her desperation to capture Edwards attention as she flaunts her breasts in Edwards face when she leans down in front of him to set his drink on the table.

I look at Alice and Rose to see if they are noticing that, but they are both chatting with their boys.

After she's finally done acting like a whore, she takes our order, giving Edward the brightest smile as we order. I roll my eyes inside my head.

"You okay Bella?" Edward leans in closely to me, looking concerned. I realize that I have tensed up and probably have a scowl on my face.

"Yea, what crawled up your ass and died?" Rose asks, exiting out from her bubble with Emmett and taking in my bad mood.

"Nothing, it's nothing" I quickly stammer. Everyone at the table gives me weird looks but then change the topic.

"So what's the worst date you've ever been on?" Emmett asks.

"Well that was random" Jasper proclaims. Alice nods in agreement.

"I'm just curious. I was watching this TV show and people were talking about the worst dates they've ever been on. It was hilarious, and I was just interested in the experiences you guys have had" Emmett explains, and chugs his beer in one long sip.

"I cannot take you anywhere, can I?" Rose jokes.

He just shrugs. "Alright, I'll start. I once met this super hot chick from the gym I used to go to." Rose shoves him violently, but because Emmett is so big, he barely budges, but the message is still there. "Of course you're the apple of my eye now Rosie" he butters up and places a kiss on her check. "Anyways, I asked her to go out for drinks with me, and she agreed. We really clicked and we decided to take the party back to her place, since you assholes were lounging at the apartment." Edward and Jasper just roll their eyes amusingly. "When we got to her place, we stumbled into her room and started to fool around. We're getting really heated when I look over and see a cage. And in that cage, there were three tarantulas. I screamed like a little girl and ran the fuck out of there in my underwear. I didn't even give a shit, I hate spiders. Their fucking creepy" Emmett rants.

"You ran out of her apartment in your underwear?" Alice snickers.

"Yea, that bitch never even gave me my clothes back? Emmett says, narrowing his eyes.

"That's hilarious! She must have thought you were crazy" I laugh.

"On one of my dates, the girl got back with her ex-boyfriend" Jasper says, laughing at the memory. We all turn to him and listen.

"How the hell did that happen?" Alice asks

"Well, it was our second date. The first date went pretty well. Anyways we went out to lunch, and it turns out that her ex-boyfriend of the time was our waiter. She started to cry and cuss him out. He says all this shit about how he's sorry and how he never meant to hurt her and how some other girl meant nothing to him. And then they proceeded to make out in front of me. I ended up just walking out as they were too absorbed in each other." He says.

"That's terrible!" Alice proclaims

"Awww poor jazzy" Rose laughs. Emmett laughs along with her and leans over to ruffle his hair. Jasper just glares at all of us and shoves Emmett's hands away from him.

"I once went out with a girl who showed up at the date already intoxicated" Edward says. Emmett and Jasper cringe, clearly having already heard the story.

"When I picked her up, she didn't even say hello, just started to fondle me. I just to push her off, but she was persistent and there's only so much I can do when I'm trying to drive. When we get to the restaurant, she starts singing _I will always love you_ to the hostess. After the manager tells her to keep it down, as she is disturbing other customers, she cusses him out, going on about freedom of speech and then moons him. We are then kicked out, and she demands that I take her to the store. I go along with it, but end up just driving her home. As I pull up to her house, she yells at me, calling me a liar and slaps me. And then she pukes all over me. It was disgusting" Edward cringers, reliving the terrible memory.

Everyone at the table is roaring with laughter. I rub Edwards shoulder soothingly.

"I went out with a clown" Rosalie shares after everyone calms down a little.

Alice and I smirk at each other, remembering the night Rose came home from that date fuming. Of course, we just laughed at her horror story instead of sympathizing with her like a good friend would do.

I start to giggle and Rose glares at me. "Shut up Bella, we'll get to your embarrassing story next" she threatens.

"Okay, continue!" Jasper exclaims, practically falling out of his seat with eagerness.

Rose takes a deep breath and launches into her story. I don't even try to contain my giggles as they over take me.

"Well, we met at some party and we hit off and exchanged numbers. The next day he texted me asking if I could meet him at some restaurant for dinner. I accepted and what I saw when he arrived scared me to death. He was wearing his full clown suite, big shoes and red nose topped with the entire make up façade. Everyone in the restaurant was staring. He explained that he had a birthday party that ran a little late and didn't have time to fun home and change. I managed to sit through the dinner, but I was so scared. I hate clowns with a burning passion. He ended the date by making me a balloon animal." Rose says

"Clowns are scary as shit" Emmett says seriously and sympathetic embraces and rubs her back.

"Only Rose" I say between laughing. Rose just shakes her head. "Bella loves that story" and glares in my direction. "Bella dated a guy who was obsessed with potatoes" Rose triumphs. Now it's everyone's turn to look and judge me.

I put my face on the table and groan.

"What the fuck?" Edward says

I lift my head up and confess "He lived on a farm, and they grew potatoes. He knew everything there was to know about potatoes. The sad thing was, I dated this guy for about four months, and every day he would provide me with at least one potato fact."

"One time when he was over in our dorm, he told me that my cookies could use some potato" Alice said, smirking in my direction.

"Yea he told me that if I started sleeping with a potato, then my insomnia would be cured" Rosalie laughs, and her and Alice air high five.

"Yea, he was a weird guy. He told me that he always fantasized me wearing a potato costume" I moan "Thank god it's over"

"That is truly terrible" Edward says.

We then all turn to Alice, taking all the attention off of me and wait for her to tell us her story.

"I don't date" Alice states. "But in one of my classes last semester, I had to sit next to this guy who was obsessed with my hair. He would always try to sniff it, and recommend all these products that I should use. One time I curled my hair, and he was so concerned about whether or not I used a heat protectant spray. He was so weird"

"Well you can't really blame the guy, your hair is very captivating" Jasper swoons, and puts a lock of hair behind her ear.

Alice gives him a face "You're just like a bug that can't be squashed" she says.

We all laugh "God Jazz, that was pretty pathetic" Emmett says

Finally our waitress comes back, setting our food on the table. As she's setting Edwards food on the table, she leans in and whispers "be careful hun, its hot" and continues to set everyone else's food. Bitch please, I'll show you how hot it can be when I shove it in your face. God, she's relentless. I glare at her now retreating form.

"How's your food?" Edward asks, breaking my trance.

"Oh, I'll let you know in a minute when I take a bit" I say and shove a whole bite of pasta in my mouth.

I moan in pleasure and savor every last bit.

Conversation flows easily around the table as we continue to tease each other about the past.

"God, I can't believe you went on a date with a clown" Jasper mutters. "If I come within 10 feet of a clown, I pee my pants" he says

"Now I know what I have to do to get rid of you" Alice jokes, elbowing him lightly in the side.

They continue to bicker, but now it's more playful and relaxed rather than Alice wanting to kill Jasper.

"Looks like you enjoyed your meal" Edward grins, shoving the last bit of steak into his moth.

I pat my belly, completely satisfied.

The waitress then comes by with our checks, placing them in front of each of us. I look over to Edward who is holding his up and frowning.

I lean over to him and take a look "Did they over charge you? My mom always checks the bill before we go ever since one time they charged us for an extra drink." I say but then my eyes narrow when I spot the phone number and her little call me note. Seriously, who does this girl think she is? Can she please put it in her pants?

I sigh, my mood souring again.

She comes back for the checks, giving Edward a small wink. I don't even pretend to hide my hatred for her and glare. Alice nudges me from my other side, giving me a questionable look.

"That bitch just gave Edward her number" I whisper in her ear.

Alice looks at our waitress, who is now putting something in the computer, and then looks back at me, giving me a disgusted look.

She finally comes back with out change and then we are free to go. We all pitch in a couple bucks for a tip and then head out the door. I notice Edward throw away the receipt with her number on it. I smile and jump for joy inside. Take that you desperate floozy!

"I'll see ya tomorrow for our last tutoring date before your test" Edward says before we part ways.

"Sounds good, thanks again for the help! It's really helping" I praise.

Edward laughs and walks to his car to catch up with the boys that are also retreating.

We then all head back to the dorm, smiling and in happy moods. Even Alice seems to be happy, I wonder if she is slowly thawing towards Jasper. I sigh and let my thoughts wonder.

* * *

I close my statistics text book and let out a long breath of relief.

"I think you'll do great. You seem to have everything down pat" Edward says, giving me a thumbs up. I smile at his pretty face.

"Thanks, I couldn't have done it without you!" I proclaim and put all my materials that are scattered around the table into my back pack.

"Well text me after the text to let me know how it goes" He says, handing me my calculator that I almost forgot.

"Thanks" I say, taking the calculator from him "And I will, right after I'm finished. If I make it out alive" I joke, but not really. I'm surprised math hasn't killed me yet.

Edward just rolls his eyes "Have faith" he reassures and stands up to walk me to the door.

"Have a good night and good luck at your internship tomorrow" I say as he opens the apartment door for me.

He has his internship at the hospital tomorrow, and it seems like a lot of work. That's why he's been so tired lately.

"Thanks Bella, I'll talk to you tomorrow" he says

I'm staring up at him, and he's staring back with some intensity. He slowly lifts up his hand and ever so gently brushes some of my hair that's fallen out of my pony tail behind my ear.

His hands set my skin on fire, and I feel gosebumps begin to emerge on my arms. I close my eyes and gasp at the feeling. It's electrifying. I'm ready to burst into John Travolta in grease when he drops his hand and looks away.

"Drive safely" he says softly

I walk out the door, wondering what the hell that was all about.

* * *

I walk out of the test feeling exuberant. I felt so good about the test. Edward has helped so much. I never thought I would feel confident about math, but that test was a breeze. As I walk out of the building, I pull out my phone from my jacket pocket and give Edward a quick text.

_Test went soooooooo well! Thank you for everything. You rock!_

I make it back from the dorm, and do a happy dance while I straighten my bed before I take a nap. Math still mentally exhausts me that much hasn't changed.

I'm just about to drift off when my phone buzzes. I look to see that Edward has texted me.

_Awesome! So glad you felt good. Lets celebrate tomorrow. You deserve it_

I smile as I respond.

_Sounds good to me _

I can't wait for tomorrow, I think as I drift off to sleep.

**Thank you for reading! Please review and comment below! love you guys and thank you for reading :)**


	6. Chapter 6

"and then he decides to call 911 on me because I threatened to take away his video game if he continued to throw grapes at the dog" I tell Edward, laughing at the memory.

Edward and I are at Vinyl, one of the local bars to celebrate my statistics test. While I don't know my grade yet, I'm pretty confident that I did well. Edward wanted to go out, so we decided to meet at the bar and throw back a couple beers. Right now, I'm telling him one of the many horror stories of babysitting my neighbor's kids.

"Did the police come" Edward asks, his eyes burning with amusement

"Oh yea, they came over to ask me if everything was alright, and then proceeded to watch the house for an entire 10 minutes in their car. It was terrible night. Luckily the parents weren't upset at me, but they did punish their devil child" I laugh.

Edward laughs a long with me while leaning back in his chair to stretch. As he does this, I fight back a moan and become fascinated with his happy trail again. I really want to run my hands through the soft baby hairs, and then let them wonder up his entire body.

The thing with Edward is that he is so beautiful but has no idea. And that's the best part. All over campus, there are attractive men but the difference between them and Edward is that they know their hot. They walk around campus like they own the place, and they know girls swoon all over them. Their attitudes are horrible as they think they are better than everyone else. They don't care about anyone else but themselves and that is a huge pet peeve of mine.

Edward has a gentle soul, and while he can be a jerk like with the whole Tanya thing, I can defiantly tell that he has a good heart. Edward is so patient and kind when he helps me with my math and when he listens to me complain.

When we talk, he studies my face, like he's trying to soak up every word I am saying while other men would stare at other body parts or pay no attention. With Edward, I feel as though I am the center of the word when we talk. I've never felt that way in my entire life.

"It seems as if babysitting isn't just fun and games" Edward says, straightening back in his chair.

"Its really not" I say and take another drink of my beer. Edward and I found a little table that we managed to squeeze into. The bar isn't too packed, but there are enough people there to make it feel crowded.

"So did you work while surviving the torture of high school?" I ask.

"Well, I did a lot of interning at the hospital so I didn't have too much time on my hands. But on the weekends I would work at the local diner as waiter. Tips were good" Edward says

"Yea I bet they were" I mutter

Edward cocks his eyebrow questionably "Why's that?" he asks

"Well with your good looks, I bet all the pretty girls would leave you tips!" I say

"I think you've had one too many beers" Edward snickers and fidgets in his chair. I don't know if I've made him feel uncomfortable with that comment, but I brush it off. I can't be the only girl that's told him he's good looking. I'm sure Tanya tells him all the time.

"Nah, I'm serious. And to prove my point, that red head chick at the bar over there has been looking at you for the past ten minutes." I say tilt my head in her direction.

Edward looks over to see, and instead of being embarrassed about being caught looking at him, the redhead just smiles and waves. I just roll my eyes and take another drink of my beer. I then stare at my napkin like it's the most interesting thing in the world.

"Bella" Edward says

I take a deep breath and look at him. Edwards just smiling, his bright white teeth shinning in the dimply light bar.

"What?" I say forcefully.

"Are you jealous?" He laughs.

"No" I lie. Of course I am. This beautiful woman is looking at Edward and if he wasn't with me then he would probably be talking to her. She's extremely attractive and I feel self conscious because he's so beautiful and I am just an ordinary girl. I don't think I'll ever be one of those girls that could turn his head and captivate him.

Edward studies me for a second, and he probably picks up on the fact that I'm uncomfortable and irritated as I keep taping the table with my fingers because he slowly stands up out of his chair.

"Alright then" he says and finishes the last drop of his drink and looks back at me "You ready to take off?"

I stand up and follow him out of the bar.

"Well thanks for hanging out with me tonight and celebrating" I say as we step out the door. Edward looks down at me "No problem, but I'll walk you to your car" He says

As we make it to my truck, he stands closely as I unlock the truck. I turn around to say goodbye when I realize he had moved and was standing directly behind me. I gasp in surprise as I take in the nearness of him. I look up and see that his eyes are burning with intensity. He gulps and slowly backs me into the door of my truck.

Slowly he brings his hands to either side of my head. He moves one hand to the side of my face and touches my check that is probably redder than a freshly painted fire truck. I have no idea what he's doing, but I'm sure liking where this is all headed. He licks his lips and brings his gaze down to mine.

Oh please kiss me, I beg. I've waited for what seems like an eternity for it to happen and have only dreamed about it like a million times.

"Bella, I just want you to know that you have no reason to be jealous"

"Okay" I whisper and place a hand on his hand that's resting on my cheek

"God Bella, you don't have any idea of how beautiful you really are, do you?" Edward asks and moves his other hand to brush some hair back behind my ear.

"That's funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you" I say. Edward laughs softly and just shakes his head.

"What am I going to do with you?" He asks. I look up at him and search his eyes for the truth in his words. They stare right back at me with what seems like a lustful gaze.

"You can kiss me" I state bravely and slowly run my hands up over his sculpted arms to his shoulders and then wrap around his neck. He leans down so we are on the same level, his warm breath fans my face and I close my eyes.

"Is that what you really want?" he asks

I open my eyes and confidently say "Yes"

Edward looks at my lips, and I lick them in anticipation. He looks back into my eyes, and whatever he sees in them must give him all the encouragement he needs because he cradles my head like it's the most precious thing in the word and moves in closer. I close my eyes when I feel his lips on mine.

My whole body feels the kiss, all my nerve endings tingling with desire and wanting. My toes curled and I run my hands up into the place they ached to be: his hair. As we kiss again, our mouths fall into a rhythm, testing out the waters. My hands tug and pull his soft locks. I moan in pleasure as one of Edwards hands runs through my hair.

Finally, I lean my head back and gasp for air. Edward's lips travel down my cheek and neck and his hands fall from my hair and travel down my shoulders and arms. He finally stands up from his leaning position and takes my hands in his.

We booth look at each other, trying to figure out what the other is thinking. My whole body suddenly feels wired from all the excitement rushing through my body, happiness seeping from my veins.

I giggle and Edward joined in.

"Well that was some congratulatory kiss" I say

"I felt as though your hard work should have been congratulated right" he says and leans his forehead against mine.

From this angle, I can fully decipher his eyes, and while they are green, they also contain small flickering golden specks, like stars. I really want to reach out and touch it, but that might be slightly uncomfortable for him.

I place my hand on his check, and he closes his eyes. I study him like this: his hair even crazier than normal due to my roaming hands, his cheeks flushed and lips a deep red from our kissing. His plaid shirt is slightly rumpled but he still looks put together, like he was aiming for that look.

"Will I see you again soon?" I ask, giving his hair a playful yank

He grabs my hand from his hair and gives it a kiss before straightening up again. He flashes me a smile, and my knees become slightly weak from everything that has just happened.

"Of course, I'll text you" he says, and walks backwards to his car that's a few spaces away. I laugh as he walks backwards, cuz it's just so adorable. When he makes it to his car he yells "By Bella" and unlocks his car and jumps in.

I sigh and open my truck and head back to the dorm, reliving that kiss again and again. It's a miracle I even make it back.

* * *

"I've just had the most magical kiss that a girl could ask for and I don't care who knows it" I shout as I skip into my dorm room.

But instead of my two friends bolting up from their beds and demanding answers, I am faced with silence and a dark room. I glumly turn on the light and realize that both my friends are not here.

I notice Alice's computer is still open so I walk over to take a look at what is on her screen as it might give me a clue of where she is. While I assume that Rose is out necking with her man, I have no idea of where Alice is. Probably with our suite mates, I think but I don't hear any voices or noise coming from the other room.

As I take a quick peek, I notice that she's left her facebook on, and the chat bubble is open. I come a little closer and lean over to see who she was talking too and gasp in shock. It looks as though Jasper and she have been talking.

Just when I'm about to be an even bigger creeper and read their lengthily conversations, the door opens and Alice prances in with a big smile on her face. I quickly jump away from her bed that I'm hovering over and let out a small yelp of surprise.

Alice quickly looks over at me and screams "GOOD GOD BELLA WAY TO SCARE THE LIVING HELL OUT OF ME" and almost falls over my desk chair that I hadn't bothered to push in.

"Sorry" I say quickly and run to her and pull her into a bear hug. "Where were you anyways" I say and pull away from her to examine her.

"I was just out with Emily and Leah to the store" she mutters and walks over to her computer. I look at her suspiciously and I think she's lying. She has on jeans and a cute top with her hair pulled into a fancy twist. My hunch is that she was out with a boy, probably Jasper.

Her mouth forms into a smile again as she types something on her computer, probably another message to Jasper, and then looks back at me. I smile back at her knowingly and her smile disappears into a frown.

"What?" she asks defensively

"Nothing" I say and look away. I figure she'll talk to me about the whole Jasper situation when she's ready. I think she's taking it slow and doesn't want to put too much pressure on whatever relationship she has with him. She'll come talk about it when she's figured out how she feels about it all.

"Okay so your never going to believe what happened to me tonight" I say, not being able to hold in my excitement that's been threatening to burst and explode out of me.

"Spill" she says

I walk over to her bed and sit right up next to her and launch into my dramatic description of Edwards kiss, roaming hands and lustful glances.

"Wow, that's AMAZING! You must be filled with happiness" Alice gushes and gives me a tight hug.

"Yea, I don't know what will happen next, but that kiss made my fly to the moon and back" I flush, my insides all tingling while I relive the memory. Warmth spreads all over my body, making my whole world light and happy. I feel as though I could touch the sky. I mean Edward Cullen KISSED me, Isabella Marie Swan. Now that kinda thing doesn't happen every day.

"Oh Bells, I'm so happy for you" Alice says, and examines me with a soft smile.

I lean my head on her shoulder "Thanks hun"

* * *

The next day I'm about to head over to Edwards, backpack all packed and everything. The only thing I'm looking for is my phone. That damn thing must have legs or something because I swear it moves on me as soon as I put it down.

I'm just on the verge of giving up and leaving the room without it when Rose barges in the door.

"BELLA" she yells

"Rose, I am barely 2 feet away, calm your tits" I mutter with frustration

"So, I was at Emmett's last night hanging out when suddenly Edward practically skips into the door with a huge ass smile. I knew he was hanging out with you, so I tried to pry him of details of what happened, but that fauckface wouldn't tell me. Did you guys fuck?" Rose rambles without taking a breath. I just stare at her patiently as she gulps for air.

"Calm now" I ask hesitantly

"Yes, now quit being a bitch and give me the dirty details?" Rose demands

"Alright, well we went to a bar and just talked for a while. Then when he walked me to my car, we kissed" I say, and courageously look at her looming figure.

Rose takes a second to process my news, and seems to be figuring out what to say next. "I'm happy for you Bells, I really am. And I know that he was floating on air when he came back like that. Emmett was busting his chops, but he kept his cool. I think he really likes you" Rose admits

"Really?" I ask hopefully

Rose smirks at my reaction, as I am practically clinging to Rose in hopes that Edward feels the same way about me. Wishful thinking much?

"Yea, but you still need to be careful. While I approve, as Edwards a pretty solid guy, I still get a bad feeling about Tanya. I'm not really sure what's going on there and neither do they boys" Rose says carefully

"Have you heard or seen anything" I say, my mood depending on her next answer. After what happened last night, I pray that Edward doesn't continue his fling or whatever the hell is going on with Tanya. While we're not in a relationship, I am not some girl he can just fool around with on the side. I will not allow myself to be treated that way.

"No" Rose says "But I think you need to find out what is going on with that. You need to see where he's at with everything before you get even more attached" Rose warns, and kicks off her shoes and climbs into bed.

"Thanks Rose, I will" I say, and check my desk one last time to make sure I didn't forget anything. "Do you have any idea of where my phone is?" I ask

Rose lies down and pulls the covers over her head and mutters "Check the refrigerator. You have a habit of leaving your phone in there" and rolls to her other side.

I open the fridge and sure enough my phone is lying in there next to my bag of apples. How I do this, I will never know. I grab my phone and run out the door.

Edward opens the door before I can even knock and pulls me into a warm hug that ignites my body on fire. It makes all the stress that was building up in me on the way here fade away.

I was so worried about how this tutoring session would be like due to previous events that happened last night. Our dynamic would change for either the better or worse, and I was nervous to see which way it would turn. Right now though, it seems as though it was changing for the better.

He snuggles into my hair for a quick moment and then lets me go. I look up at him and smile.

"Well that was a nice greeting" I say and lift up my hands to his hair and let them meander in his messy tundra. After playing with his hair once, I can't seem to get enough. I may be addicted to him just for his hair.

"Bellzilla, I see you have an addiction to Eddies hair as well" Emmett rumbles from behind me. I jump at least 3 feet from fright as I wasn't expecting anyone else to be here.

"What?" I nearly scream in surprise

"All the girls love Eddella's hair." Em says amusingly and gives my shoulder a squeeze in passing.

What does he mean "all girls". Is there more girls that I should be aware of. I'm not sure how much more I can handle.

"Shut up" Edward laughs, and tries to slap Emmett, but Em quickly jumps out of his reach and sits on the coach to watch TV. "What are you guys up too anyways?" he asks, tearing his eyes away briefly to look at us.

"Helping Bella with her statistics homework" Edward says and starts to walk over to the kitchen table.

Emmett snorts "Yea, okay"

Edward just rolls his eyes and sits down in the chair and looks at me expectantly "Just watch your game Em"

I make my way towards the table and groan "I so don't want to do this" I complain and begin to take out my things.

Edward just smirks and then gets his teacher pants on and the atmosphere turns serious as he navigates me through the world of math.

We're almost done with the homework when Emmett approaches the kitchen and leans against the wall, watching us like a science experience that's about to explode.

"Can I help you?" Edward asks, taking a moment to acknowledge his presence

"Nah, just watching you two love birds make it rain" Emmett laughs "I gotta pick up Rosie, so I'll be heading out. I'll be back later" he says

"Thanks bro, have fun" Edward says, turning his attention back to me and watching as I attempt to solve a problem he had just explained to me.

"Yea, Jasper's out. Not sure when he'll be back. He's been in and out a lot" Emmett says, more to himself and us. He shakes his head "You kids be safe" and dashes out the door.

"YES!" I shout, and jump out of my chair to do a happy dance. "I finished that stupid ass problem" I gleefully say

Edward picks up the notebook, making sure that I did in deed solve the problem correctly. Then in a blink of an eye, he jumps out of his chair and lifts me up in his arms.

I quickly wrap my arms and legs around him as he twirls me around.

"You did IT. I told you that you COULD!" He laughs along with me.

I travel my hands through his hair again, and he closes his eyes and walks over to the couch and sits down. So now he's sitting and I am straddling him. That escalated pretty quickly.

Edward open his eyes and carefully places hands on my shoulders and pulls me in so we are so close that he can probably hear my heart thudding in my chest. I rub a strand of his hair in my hands, relishing at the softness of it.

"How does your hair get this soft?" I wonder aloud and boldly give it a sniff. It smells like lavender and roses. "And smell so good"

Edward laughs and pulls me down again so we are eye to eye "It's this miraculous thing called herble essence" he gloats.

"Shut up, smart ass" I snicker

"Make me" he challenges

Well that's all the encouragement I need, and bring my lips to his. This kiss isn't as hesitant and shy as the first one. It feels like our lips just decided to pick up where they left off the last time, already familiar with each other.

Edwards hands fall slowly from my shoulders and travel down my back to rest at my hips, their pathway sending spurts of electricity down my back. I arch slightly at how good it feels. Edward moans into our kiss, and ever so slightly traces his tongue over my lips.

This brings new waves of feelings over me, and I feel like I am drowning in pleasure. I tilt my head and give him better access as he slips his tongue in my mouth and does a dance, sweeping there and tangling with my tongue.

I run my hands down from his hair, to his shoulders and wonder over his stomach. While my hands aren't under his shirt to find out how toned he actually is, they can defiantly tell that there's some good muscle covered up.

Edward slips his tongue out and lifts one hand up to move my head to the other side and attack my neck with kisses, sucking at random spots. I really enjoy that "God Edward, that's so good" I moan in ecstasy. Other parts of my body are slowly building and aching with need.

I lean down to kiss him again when we hear someone fiddle with the doorknob, unlocking the door.

I quickly jump off Edwards lap and try to fix my hair and shirt that became slightly rumpled before someone catches us in a passionate kissing fest.

While I'm sure I am blushing like a fool and breathing like a marathon runner, I try to act as normal as possible as Jasper walks through the door.

"Hey Jazz" Edward says, his voice casually cool, like those 3 moments of frenzy had never happened. I sneak a glance at him, and while Edwards's hair is crazier than normal, everything about him is fine.

Jasper looks up from his phone, "Hey guys" and goes back to texting, smiling at whatever he's saying.

"Where have you been dude? You've been like MIA for the last couple days" Edward probes.

Jasper sits down at a chair beside the couch, finishes texting and puts his phone back in his pocket. "Just been busy dude" and watches the TV "I LOVE this movie" he says.

Having no idea what is on, since Edward and I were on the couch doing other things then watching the TV, I take my gaze off Edward and turn to see what he's talking about. It's a remake of Pride and Prejudice with Kierra Knightly, one of Alice's favorite movies. I smile.

"Oh really? Its one of Alice's favorite movies as well" I say and inspect Jasper.

"Since when do you watch chick flicks?" Edward asks, his voice filled with surprise.

Jasper just shrugs and his phone vibrates. He quickly pulls out his phone and his face lights up with jubilance. Now I'm really suspicious. Edward's said that Jasper has been MIA for the past couple days, and now that I think about it, so has Alice. And with Jasper saying that he liked Pride and Prejudice, I now remember that when I was looking for a movie to watch before I fell asleep last night, I noticed that that movie was missing from her collection. Was it possible that they watched that movie together?

The clock on the TV reminds me that it's getting late, and I have to meet Alice for dinner.

I stand up from the couch and look down at Edward "Well, I gotta take off so I can meet Alice for dinner"

Edward stands up with me "Okay, I'll walk you out to your car"

I grab my stuff and dash out the door, muttering a quick bye to Jasper, who in return tells me to tell Alice he says hey. I just roll me eyes, those two are so weird.

As we walk to my truck, Edward chatters about weather and his class that he has tomorrow. But honestly, it's not the words that I am focused on. It's the way his lips form the words, or the way he nervously scratches his neck as he sneaks peeks at me when he thinks I'm not looking. I love the way the wind ruffles his already messy hair.

When we make it to my truck, I unlock it and then turn to face him, but keeping my gaze on the ground. I suddenly feel nervous, and awkwardly scuffle my feet. Now what do we do? Do we kiss goodbye? Or act like it never happened. I'm unsure of where we stand with each other, but too scared to ask him. I hate confrontation.

Edward lifts my chin up and forces me to look at him.

"What's on your mind Bella Swan?" Edward asks, and scrutinizes me, trying to find the answer on my face.

"I was just thinking that if pizza is round, then why is it served in a square box? I joke

Edward throws his head back and his whole body shakes with his melodic laughter. I smile at him. Edward drops his hand from my chin and places it on my cheek.

"Listen, I'll be busy for the next few days, but maybe we can go out? Grab a bite to each or whatever? Edward says, his voice becoming both serious and nervous.

"hmmmm, I'm not sure. I'll have to check in with my boyfriend. He'll be discharged from juvy within the next two days and is demanding me to see him" I say, with the best grave voice I can manage.

Edward's face transforms into surprise, confusion and then anger. His face starts to turn the same color of red that mine does and he narrows his eyes. I laugh at him, and even snort a couple times.

"I'm just kidding Edward, I would love that. I just had to mess with you" I say

Edwards face relaxes instantly and puts his other hand on the opposing check and brings his face close to mine.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" he proclaims

"Sorry" I murmur

I delicately put my hands on either side of his face and trace his jaw until my hands meet again at the bottom of his chin. God even his chin is flawless. It's like he's a sculpture that someone perfectly created, making every little detail fall into place effortlessly with no mistakes. I rub his stubble, loving the feel of it and imagining how it would feel on other parts of my body.

Edward leans down, and his lips are on mine again, and I'm taken and flying away to another planet. Our lips move together a couple times, making the perfect melody.

"Alight I really need to go" I say breathlessly, pulling away from his lips. Edward groans in protest, and shoves his face into my neck and catching his breath. I giggle cuz it's so cute and his stubble feels really nice on my neck.

"Fine, if you must" he complains and straightens up. We hold hands as we finish walking to my truck, and with one last monumental kiss from Edward, I'm on my way.

* * *

"His lips are as soft as a babies bottom" I swoon, and then stuff another French fry into my mouth.

Alice giggles, and when I shake the memory of Edward and I kissing, I realize that she's not laughing at me, but at something on her phone. I frown, as she seems to be consumed with something but is not telling me.

"So what's got you all smiley and full of sparkles today" I say.

Alice quickly looks up at me and narrows her eyes "Nothing, my mom just sent me a funny email." I take a look at her nostrils, and notice that they are flaring, as sign that she is lying. While I really want to push the topic, I realize that I have to be patient and when she's ready to talk about it, she will. Anyways, I'm like 99% sure its Jasper, and I figure it will probably take her a while to even admit to herself that she likes him, let alone tell me.

I just shrug, and stuff more French fries into my mouth and moan in pleasure. I love French fries.

"Wow Bells, you are sure liking those French fries" Alice says as she watches me continue to eat every single one on my plate. I finish them and pat my belly in pure contentment. My period is coming soon and was craving them. I don't feel the least bit guilty, at least for right now. Later tonight when I'm lying in bed and feeling more balloted than a pregnant woman, I'll feel the guilt.

"Hey, I'm flying on cloud 9, don't ruin it" I warn

"I'm not; in fact I'm super happy for you. And he asked you out, so that means he is actually interested in you. It's the real deal" Alice advises

"Yea, I just don't know what's going on with the whole Tanya situation" I worriedly say.

While its clear that Edward and I have chemistry between us, is it enough for him to forget about his precious Tanya? I guess I'm gonna have to get a backbone and ask him directly. While I'm enjoying Edwards attentiveness and kisses, I can't live in that bubble forever.

"Your just gonna have to ask him. It will be okay" Alice assures. Her phone buzzes and she lurches to grab it. But instead of reading and replying to whoever is texting her, she just shoves her phone in her bag. It's pretty obvious she doesn't want me to know who she is texting.

"Your right, I'm just gonna have to suck it up" I sigh

* * *

I'm in one of my education classes, trying my best to concentrate on what the professor is saying, my mind keeps drifting to yesterday's events. Edwards hands on my cheeks or Edwards lips on mine. I touch my neck, and remember how good it felt when he sucked on sensitive spots on my throat, and under my jaw.

I feel a nudge on my left side and I look over to see Jacob smirking at me. I roll my eyes and catch up with the notes the professor had written down as I was day dreaming.

"What's got you all lite up like a Christmas tree" Jake asks, and writes down the notes in his messy handwriting.

I roll my eyes "Here's your nose" I say and tap his nose "I found it in my business" I laugh.

Jacob shakes his head "It's that Cullen kid, isn't it?" he asks

"I am so not telling you that" I stubbornly say

"Whatever Bells, but remember what I said. Be careful." Jake says seriously.

"Alright class, I'll see you next week" the professor states and starts to pack up their stuff.

Jake and I both stand up and pack up our stuff. "So do you want to do some homework at the library? I have a shit ton to do and would love some company" he says

"What, you don't have some girl your leading on to keep you company" I jab as we walk out of class and quickly step forward fast to dodge the shove I know he'll give me.

"Shut up Swan. I do happen to have my eye on a girl named Nessie. She's currently refusing to go out with me though as apparently I am a cocky ass who treats woman like their a piece of meat" He laughs

I snort, already liking this girl. While I love Jake like a brother, he defiantly is a player and goes through woman like they are disposable. He's a great guy, just not boyfriend material.

"Sounds like you got your handful" I say "Well, I got to go grab some of my homework in my room, but I'll meet you at the library" I promise. He nods and heads in the other direction.

I make it to the dorm and run into my room to quickly grab all the materials that I need. I expect to see Alice there, doing homework or painting her nails as she doesn't have class till later, but am faced with an empty room. I briefly wonder if she's hanging with Jasper as I look for my things.

As I go through my things, I notice that my statistics book is missing. Oh crap, I must have left it at Edwards yesterday when we were doing homework. I still have two more problems that I need to finish before tomorrow.

I quickly shoot Edward a text, asking if I can stop by quickly to grab it.

10 minutes of organizing my bed and taking out the garbage there's still no text from Edward. I remember him saying that he was really busy, so maybe he's not even there. I know that Emmett is probably out with Rose, as she's missing from the room as well so I can't text him.

Well, there's still a chance that Jasper could be there, and I really need the book so I decide to head over there. After texting Jake saying that I might be a little while, I drive over.

I arrive and bag on the door, crossing my fingers that someone is there.

I hear footsteps paddle across the floor and I thank the lord. The doorknob turns and the door opens.

"Bella?" Edward questions

I'm surprised for a second as I was not expecting Edward to be there. I am momentarily distracted by him as he is wearing a pair of flannel pajama pants that sink lovely on his hips and a tight grey wife beater. His biceps are nice and toned and perfectly open to my mercy.

"Whose there Eddie" I hear a voice.

Edward nervously runs his fingers through his hair and instead of allowing me to come in, he takes a step outside, forcing me to back up.

"Is everything okay?" he questions

"Yea, I just left my stats book here and I need to grab it so I can finish my homework" I nervously stammer. Edwards acting weird, not as friendly or welcoming like he usually is. And it sounds like someone is in the apartment…..and female. My face pales and stomach sinks as I realize that Tanya is behind the door.

Edward shifts uncomfortably and refuses to meet my gaze as he talks "Oh yea, I saw that, give me a quick second and I'll run and grab it for you"

"Eddie what the hell is going on" Tanya asks, and comes to stand behind him. Edward quickly turns around, but not fast enough to block her form from me. She steps to his side and I am faced with her perfect self.

"Oh look what the cat dragged in" Tanya sneers. I take a good look at Tanya, whose hair is perfectly straight and hanging all the way down to her waist and wearing nothing but leggings and a low cut t-shirt.

I look at Edward, who now looks mortified and unsure of what to do. I angrily shove past both of them and run quickly over to the table to grab my book.

"Bella, wait a second, this isn't what it looks like" Edward says, and grabs my shoulder to stop me.

I furiously shake his hand off "Don't be so cliché Edward, every guy says that. And personally I don't want to hear it" and walk out the door, not even giving Tanya another glance.

"Bella, wait! I can explain" Edward cries, following me down the stairs.

"Edward" I say sternly, stopping in front of him as I reach the bottom of the stairs. Edward stops on the step above me, giving him even more height on me than usual. "I'm not going to be someone's option." And push him away as he tries to lean down and grab me again.

I run as fast as I can and climb into my truck and speed out of there.

It's when I finally flop down on my bed that I finally let the tears stream down.

**Hey guys thank you for reading! Please review to let me know what you think! And I promise the whole Tanya thing will be explained next chapter! Thank you!**


	7. Chapter 7

Welcome to Forks

Population: 3,022

I see the familiar sign, a faded blue with worn out white letters welcome me back to my home town. My noisy truck rumbles past the one of the three stop lights in town and with one left turn I'm pulling into my driveway.

There's no sign of Charlie's cruiser, so I figure he must still be at the station, hunched over his desk and filling traffic violations.

The neighbor's dog barks at me, as if I'm some unfamiliar stranger about to rob the home. I walk up the wooden steps, they creak in effort to stay up as I unlock the door and am greeted with a dark and empty house.

After coming back from Edwards, I decided to get an early start on the road back home for February break. With Rose being gone for the weekend to attend the benefit Emmett's family was hosting and Alice heading out after her early class I figured would I take off as well. I wasn't about to sit a round and wallow all by myself.

Everything in the house is the same, nothing moved out of its original place. Charlie's not a man of change, and from never being home that often to begin with, it seems as though the house is barely lived in, everything neatly in place. Like it's never been touched.

I walk up the stairs and go to my room. It's the same way that I left it before heading back to school after Christmas break. I have my purple comforter, desk in the corner and my small closet. I throw my stuff on the bed and decide to make something for dinner to surprise Charlie.

There's not much in the fridge besides beer and bacon, a typical mans meal but luckily there's some fish that he had caught in the freezer. I decided to fry that and was able to scrounge up some ingredients for a small salad. It feels good to be back home and cook, something I often did when I was in high school.

Since my dad's never been a chef, barely able to succeed in the simple making of boxed macaroni and cheese, I quickly took over when I was in middle school, after becoming sick of the same old TV dinners. Of course, now that I am gone for most the year, it seems as though Charlie has progressed back to them, as I noticed a bunch stacked in the freezer when I found the fish.

I worry about him a lot as he lives a lone and doesn't have anyone to take care of him. He's never even dated or had a female friend since my mother and him decided to call it quits. Luckily though, he has a lot of friends from work and a few friends down in the neighboring town LaPush that he fishes with. Still though, with just beer, bacon and TV dinners in the fridge, I worry that he's not taking proper care of himself.

After finishing preparing dinner, I let the fish cook while I sit my ass down and watch TV until it's done.

About 10 minutes before dinner is ready, Charlie stomps into the house.

"Bells?" he calls

I spring from the sofa and meet him in the kitchen.

"Daddy" I yell and run to him, eagerly wanting to be wrapped up in his strong arms and make me forget about stupid boys

"My girl" Charlie sighs into my hair, his mustache tickling my cheek. He gives me a good squeeze and pulls away but keeps his hands on my shoulders, taking me in.

"You look thin, have you been eating properly?" he asks

I just roll my eyes "you say that every time you see me. I could gain 20 pounds and you would still say that"

Charlie just snorts and then heads over to the fridge to pull out a beer. My dad is a man of habit, always having a beer after work. Just like he will probably watch TV after dinner and fall asleep in his arm chair. As I look him over, I am satisfied that he looks healthy. While his dark and still thick hair is slowly graying in random spots, it doesn't look as though he seem to have gained or lost any significant weight. He still has a little belly, but it hasn't grown or shrunken.

He's wearing his good old police officer uniform, the same one he's probably had for about 10 years and his gun still in pocket. He takes a sip and then scratches his mustache, something he's always had and as a kid I used to be fascinated with it and proclaimed that when I was older, I would have one too.

"How was the ride here? You drive safely" his law enforcer attitude coming out. I laugh, having never even received a traffic ticket as I am always careful knowing that if I did get one, he would have my head.

"Don't I always" I mock and walk over to the oven to take out the fish, my stomach rumbles, and I realize how hungry I am. I haven't eaten anything since I saw Tanya and Edwards. I quickly shove that memory aside, not wanting to think about it at the moment.

Charlie just shrugs and sits down at the table, waiting for me to serve dinner. I miss doing this for him, spending time with him. It's something that I've taken for granted when I was here but when I moved away to college, I realized how much it meant to me. To have quite dinners with him and cherish the time we had together, after all it was only us.

"What are you making? I didn't have time to go the store so there's not much around. I wasn't expecting you to be home until later" he says

"I found some fish that you caught in the freezer and thought I could put it to good use" I say and place the fish on the table. Charlie hums appreciatively and places one on his plate. I quickly run to the counter and get that salad that I had made and sit down next to him.

"Perfect" he says and takes a healthy bite, and closes his eyes "I've really missed you cooking" he admits after swallowing his food.

"Good, I've missed cooking for you" I say and begin to eat as well.

"So how are classes" he asks

"They're good; this semester is so much more low key than last semester since I'm not student teaching. I've just been enjoying it, since I'll be graduating in a few months" I say, and take a sip of water.

Charlie grunts, probably not wanting to acknowledge that I'm growing up more and more. "Can't believe it" he mutters. I just laugh under my breath.

"Any boys I should be worried about? Should I start polishing my gun?" he asks, changing the subject

Now this is a topic that I don't want to get into. I've been trying NOT to think about the whole Edward situation since I took off from school. My goal is to try and forget it and avoid him at all coasts. Another rejection to add to me very long list. I try not to bash my head against the table, and calmly take a bite of food, trying to find the right words to dodge his question.

"Nope" I grin, well that was simple

Charlie eyes me, trying to find a sign that I'm lying and then goes back to his food, chewing and thinking.

"So how have you been? Everything good at the station? I triumph, changing the topic from my love life, thank GOD.

And off Charlie goes, talking about how all the youths are too stupid enough to read the speed limit signs and how they are all bound to die if they don't watch it. He goes off about the drinking age and that if he has to break up another party with underage drinking; he's going to pull out all his hair. I just laugh, loving at how passionate he gets about following the law.

* * *

"So then I go to his apartment and that bitch Tanya happens to be there, sneering and practically growling at me like some rapid evil dog" I say

I'm out to eat at the local forks dinner, with my best friend Angela Webber. We've known each other even since elementary school and while we went off to different colleges, we still manage to keep in contact and catch up whenever we are both home.

"What a DOUCHEBAG! I'll hunt him down, and cut him like a fish!" Angela says, and angrily stabs her food with a fork. "And what exactly was his pathetic explanation of why he was playing you like a damn card game?"

I laugh at her expression, her face red from anger, plump lips are scowling and eyes narrowed to slits. And this is why we're best friends, as I can rant and moan and she'll just sit back and listen. She always has my back.

"I wouldn't let him. I ran out of there as fast as I could. He's called and texted me a few times since then, asking me if I'll hear him out, but I really don't have any desire to do so" I say, and take the last bite of my burger, loving and cherishing its greasy deliciousness. While this diner isn't at all special, the food being mediocre at best, they do make the best burger I've ever laid eyes on.

"Why NOT?" Angela explodes, almost spitting out the water she had just drank. "Don't you want to hear what pathetic excuse he has, and then slap him across the face?"

I just roll my eyes "My life is not a soap opera" I laugh and wipe my face with a napkin "And no I don't, he's probably fucking her and probably just tell me she's nothing, that their just friends. But I don't want to hear it. If he's interested in a girl like that, whether they are in a relationship or not, then I'm not his type" I explain

"Yea, you're AWESOME while Tanya is a cold heartless bitch. You don't want a guy who's going to let some little trap run his life. He sounds pathetic, they way he lets Tanya treat him, and other people for that matter. You deserve so much better" she says, and reaches across the table to grab my hand, giving it a light squeeze of affection. I smile gratefully at her and let her words sink in.

The thing is I can't be a runner up to some girl. I can't handle it. I need a guy who's going to want me, and only me. Edward clearly has some weird attachment to this girl, as he lets her run all over him, and I'm not going to stand around at watch it. If Edward wants me, then he's going to have to give up Tanya, and I'm not going to ask him to do that. He has to figure that one on his own. I refuse to be someone's side salad, rather than their main meal.

"Exactly" I state, and nod my head in agreement "Now enough about my love life. Anything new going on between you and Ben?" I ask.

Ben is Angela's boyfriend, and they are literally the cutest thing since sliced bread. Ben also went to elementary school with us, moving into town when Angela and I were in about 3rd grade. He came in our class midway through the year, took one look at Angela in her braided pigtails and glasses, and was instantly smitten.

Of course at the age, all girls thought boys were annoying and vice versa. Ben would follow Angela around like a lost puppy, which annoyed me to pieces and even kicked him a couple times when he wouldn't take the hint. But Ben wouldn't give up, always doing things to irk Angela, like pulling on her pink tails, throwing paper airplanes at her, and chasing us around the playground with bugs in his hand.

Eventually though, one day in our freshman year of high school, they got stuck being lab partners in science class. Of course, it started off terrible. Angela would whine and complain to me at the many sleepovers we had about how annoying Ben was. But after a while, all the mutterings about how Ben was a complete dofus stopped. After about a week of not one single complaint about Ben, I asked her what's up.

She turned bright red and reluctantly told me that Ben had kissed her one day when they were doing homework together out of the blue. She said that at first she had been furious at him, and kneeing him in the balls. But then they kissed again, and she found herself kissing him back. And while they couldn't become official and date until Angela was 16, one of her Dad's rules, they kept it on the DL. As soon as she turned 16, it was official, introducing him to her father who was not pleased at all, and have been together ever since.

"Well, he applied for a job at the local high school as one of those computer fixer uppers. He got called for an interview and my fingers are crossed that it goes well. He really wants it" Angela says, her face softens as she thinks about her man.

I laugh "Yea that would be perfect for him. He's a computer wizard. They'd be crazy not to hire him" I say, and it's true. While I love Ben, as he's come a long way since elementary school, he's a total geek. I'm not lying when I say he's a computer genius, and he has the look to go along with it. He's got those thick black glasses and always tucks in his shirt in his pants. He reminds me of Urkle from family matters, minus the voice, thank GOD. But with Angela on his side, her massive curly hair and purple framed glasses, they make a cute couple.

I grab my wallet from my purse and throw down the money I owe. Angela does the same and we both walk out.

"Well thanks for everything girl" I say and give Angela a tight squeeze.

"Anytime and thank you! Tell Charlie I say hi" and off she goes, sprinting to her car. I turn the other way and head to my truck. I pull my jacket tighter against me, as its freezing. As I make my way back to my house, I admire the evergreen trees that are covered with snow. It looks like someone has painted them with frosting.

My phone buzzes, signaling that someone has texted me. When I'm safely parked in my driveway, I pull out my phone from my jacket pocket, as Charlie has told me enough horror stories about kids who text and drive. I try not to throw my phone out the window when I see it's from Edward, he must have sensed that I was talking about him

_I'm sorry from blowing up your phone, and I understand if you don't want to talk to me. But at least hear me out, and after that I promise I'll leave you alone. Please let me explain_

I shove my phone back in my pocket and go back to the house. I head into the living room and flop on the couch, picking up the room I've been trying to read all week and try to lose my self in the non fictional world.

Of course, I barely can finish one whole page before my mind drifts back to Edward, and how his face crumbled as I ran out. Serves him right though, how dare he lead me on like that. The worst part is that I was like a naive stupid little girl that ate right from the palm of his hand, letting him play me like that. My gut sinks as I remember Tanya hissing at me, marking her territory.

I really don't want to hear him out, I already know that Tanya and him have had history since their first year of college. I highly doubt he's just suddenly going to drop her to be with me. I can't compete for his undivided attention, and I shouldn't have too. I refuse to do that, I'm not that kind of girl. I need to be a priority, not an option.

A few hours later I finally get into the book and become deeply absorbed with the characters drama when Charlie barges in the house, letting the door slam behind him.

"Bells, I'm going ice fishing later tonight with Billy and Harry if you'd like to come" Charlie offers, walking into the living room.

I sit up from my sprawled out position on the couch and brush my hair back from my face. I've gone ice fishing with them ever since I was a little kid. It's truly a miraculous thing, and it's a ton of fun. Another boding experience with my dad. And since my week is almost over, I decide to go.

"Sure, sounds fun" I say

Charlie smiles and walks out of the living room.

* * *

A few hours after dinner, the sun has long since set, Charlie and I make our way to the lake. When we arrive, I see a few people have already camped out on the lake, claiming their spots. From the talking and laughing, I can tell its Harry and Billy, my dads fishing buddies. I've known them since I was a little kid.

"Jingle Bells decided to come and brave the chilly night eh?" Billy says, getting out of his chair that he had been sitting in near his hole, and giving me a hug.

I laugh and playfully swat his shoulder "Hey, you should be happy I decided to spend sometime with you old folks" I jab and pull out of his embrace and walk over to Harry.

"Bella, you better use your words carefully" Harry jokes and I just roll my eyes and give him a quick hug.

"At least you have me to keep you company" a young voice says. I look behind me and notice that Paul, Billy's youngest son has joined us. I had somehow missed him when walking over.

Paul, who is about 14, is now looking over me. He kind of reminds me of Emmett, almost has tall and muscular as him. The only thing is that Paul, along with his brothers Jared and Sam have long black hair and beautiful olive skin combined with beautiful rich dark brown eyes. Where my eyes are just a regular boring shade of brown, his eyes are so dark they could almost be black.

Paul pulls me into huge embrace, and I feel my lungs be squashed together, squeezing the life out of me.

"Paul...need...air" I pant

"oops, sorry Bella. Sometimes I forget my own strength" Paul says bashfully, the tips of his ears becoming red. I can't tell if it's just because of the cold or if he is embarrassed. I assume that he's always had some sort of crush on me. I used to hang out with Jared and Sam often when I was little, and in high school I would sometimes spend time with them on the reservation. They are fun guys, just a few years older than me. I haven't seen them in a while, since they both have graduated college and have moved out of town.

Paul would always follow me around, trying to fit with us older kids. His brothers would tease him, but I was always nice to him, letting him join in on things that weren't too dangerous. He was always sensitive, even though he was a big tough kid. I think from me always listening and including him, he developed a slight crush. His brothers would tease him when he tried to show off on his dirt bike in front of me, and trying to persuade me to ride on it wit him.

I laugh at the memory and look up at Paul. He's very handsome, just like his brothers and I'm sure the girls at school are all over him "No worries Paul! Wanna help me dig a hole in the ice? You know I always suck at doing it" I say

Paul just shakes his head, but begins to help me "Yea, somehow you always manage to screw it up" he jokes.

After everything is settled, I sit down with my pole in my hand and Paul sits down in his spot next to me. I look over to see the three men about a couple yards away, drinking beer and talking animatedly about something. I take a closer look at Charlie and am satisfied that he's having a good time, smiling and waving his warms enthusiastically as he talks to his friends.

It's so beautiful out here at night on the lake. We're just surrounded by wilderness, the forest silent and the trees gently swaying with the wind. The occasional coyote howls, and the stars shine down brightly, making the ice sparkle in its wake. With the moon shinning down like a spotlight, I soak it up and bask at the world's beauty.

"So what's crackin in Clarkson?" Paul asks, and sticks his hand in the bag of chips that he had brought with him.

I sigh "Oh, not much. Just the same old classes. Can't believe I'll be graduating soon. How's everything for you?" I ask, and watch him as he stuffs his face with Doritos. It will never cease to amaze me of how much a guy can eat.

"It's good." He says simply

"Any lady friends?" giving him a cheesy wink

Paul just shrugs, but he shoots me a playful grin "There's one girl named Maggie but she has no idea that I exist"

"I highly doubt that" I snort "You're almost 7 feet tall, I'm sure she has seen you around before"

Paul murmurs dejectedly "Yea, but we've never talked or anything"

"So make a move on her. Your like the coolest kid I know, and plus your hot. She'd be crazy not to like you" I say

"Thanks Bells, it's not that simple though. She's one of those popular girls who's probably going to start dating one of those football dudes" he sadly says

"You'll never know unless you give it a chance" I say

He's silent for a bit, letting my words sink in. I hope he gives it a shot; He's a really great guy, so sweet and would treat any girl like a queen. I doubt he'd string them around and toy with their emotions, unlike some people.

"What about you? Any boyfriend I should know about? You know Jared, Sam and I have to approve right?" Paul says, breaking the silence.

"Nah, I was kinda talking to someone, but he turned out to be a jerkface" I mutter

"What happened?" he asks and rolls his chips back up, making a crackling noise as he does.

I fill him in, giving him all the details. After I'm done, I look over at Paul and notice his fuming expression. His hands ball up in fists and his jaw tenses. "What a dick. I'll come back up to school with you and kick his ass"

I pat his back soothingly "Nah, he's not worth it. I'll move on from it"

"Did he tell you why he was sneaking around behind your back?"

"Nope, I wouldn't let him. I don't want to hear any pathetic excuse he has"

Paul nods his head "I'm sorry Bells, you deserve way better. What an ass!"

Suddenly something yanks my hook, letting me know that a fish is nibbling on my worm and all is forgotten as I jump up and start wheeling in my bait.

Paul comes over to help me, and all the other men come over to see what all the commotion is about. The others come over as well.

"Looks like a 7 incher" Harry says as I finally yank the fish out of the water.

"That's my girl" Charlie says, and pats me on the back. I grin and hand over the pole Harry and let him inspect.

After we put my fish in the cooler, everyone settles back to their seats.

Paul and I continue to talk for a while. He talks about Sam, and how he's dating a girl while working in a law firm. He's convinced that they are going to get married and how Jared is going to be a father in a few months having already married someone named Charlotte. It feels weird when he talks about them. Time sure flies, as I remember when they would fix up old cars or motorcycles in their garage. Or try to be the next Tony hawks on their skate boards and I would watch and giggle as they failed. It makes me wonder where I am going to be in the next few years. Will I be dating someone? Engaged? Doing the job I love? The future is a wonderful but scary thing. It's totally unknown.

After a while, with a few catches from Paul and even one from my dad, we decide to call it a night. We say our goodbyes, me hugging Paul and whispering to gather up the courage to talk o Maggie and we're on our way.

The next few days go bye fast, filling up with a shopping trip with Angela and then meeting Ben for dinner, who was ecstatic from the news of getting the job, and watching cop shows with Charlie. Before I know it, it's Sunday afternoon and I have to get on the road in a few minutes.

I put the rest of my stuff in my track and head back inside to say my goodbyes to Charlie.

"Drive safe, don't think you're too good for the speed limit" he lectures, eyeing me sternly as if daring me to defy his rules.

"I always to daddy" I butter him up "I've made a few casseroles for you and they are in freezer. Please eat them as they are better for you than those dam TV dinners. And please throw in some vegetables and fruits once in a while"

Charlie huffs "I'm not some kid Bells, I can take care of myself" but I know he's pleased about the food. I can tell from the smirk that's threatening to burst under his mustache.

"Okay dad. Love you. I'll call you soon" I say and begin to walk out the door.

"Hey, get your ass back here and give your old man a hug" he says

I run back and launch myself at him, giving him the biggest and warmest hug I can manage. "Love you Bells" he gruffs into my hair.

One last squeeze and I'm on my way, driving towards my future of the unknown

* * *

"So your telling me that after all Edward stupidface Cullen did to me, you still want me to go watch them play? I exasperate "Honestly guys, I figured you of all people would understand"

Rose and Alice just groan and continue to give me the puppy dog eyes, begging me to go to the bar with them to watch the boys play. I'd rather have my feet be covered with splinters than do that. They were pissed at Edward as well when I told them the news of what happened over the phone when we were on break.

"C'mon Bella, don't let that asshole dictate where you can and can't go. I get what he did was terrible, but you love listening to bands and you have to admit their good. I promise that as soon they are done you can take off" Rose says

"Why do you want me to go so bad anyways" I question

"Because we've been separated all week and this is a great bonding experience" Alice pipes up from her side of the room, attempting to put her shoes one while standing but its not going too well. She keeps hoping around and losing her balance.

"Did Alice just say that? She actually wants to go to the bar? Are pigs flying? I make a feeble attempt to look out the window.

"Shut it" Alice says, finally succeeding at putting on her heels. "It's growing on me"

"Yea, okay if that's your excuse" I mumble. Alice looks sharply at me, trying to decipherer what I just said. Rose, who is close enough to me to have heard, lets out a few giggles and finishes getting dressed.

"What" Alice glares

"Nothing" I state innocently.

I really don't want to go as I know Edward will be there, playing and performing and who the hell knows if Tanya will be making an appearance. I groan at the thought, I will not be able to stomach any more of that crap. But Rose and Alice are going, and I don't want to sit in the dorm all by myself.

"Fine, I'll go with you guys. But as soon as they're done, I'm leaving whether you guys like it or not" I warn, and muster up the courage at get dressed.

"YAY" squeaks Alice and rushes over me to give me a hug. "Now let me help you get ready. You've got to show that stinker what he's missing out on"

When we arrive to the bar, I make my way straight to the bar. Alice promised to be the designated driver tonight, so I figure I'll have a good time. The girls go to scout out a table before the boys get on stage, and I order myself two shots of vodka and chase it with a beer.

I get a couple looks from the guys beside me. I'm in my short mini skirt and revealing top hustling down some drinks so I guess it would make sense that they would look. But I'm in a mood and I don't give a shit of what they think.

I stumble around the bar, squeezing through huge groups of people and finally find the girls at a table just as the boys make it on stage.

"God did you walk to china and back?" Rose complains and motions me to sit down next to her

I huff "Have you noticed how busy it is, its like going through an obstacle course just to walk across the bar"

The boys then begin playing their first song, and everyone quits down to hear. I look over to Alice to see her star at Jasper adoringly. I inwardly smile, there is defiantly something going on between those two.

As they play, I get up a couple more times to do shots. Some college kid propositioned me to do a body shot with me. I turned him down of course, but I find it funny that all I have to do is dress like a whore and guys will give me attention. Too bad they're probably assholes. They say if you roll in manure then you'll only get attention from pigs.

When they finish, I am completely wasted. I lean over and pet Alice's hair. She's so pretty. "Okie dokie, time to sckittle" I slurr, my voice deeply affected by all the alcohol that I've consumed.

Alice in response leans farther away from me and crinkles her noise is disgust. My breath probably smells terrible, but I'm too buzzed to care.

"Yes, I've just got to say hi to someone and then we can take off" and gets up and disappears into the crowd.

Rose gets up, smiling down at me "Gesh Bella, I've never seen you like this. I won't lie and say that this isn't completely hilarious" I just glare at her and give her the finger.

"Hey Baby" Emmett popes up from nowhere and greets her with a kiss "Wanna go grab a drink?"

"Hhhheeeyyyyy emmmyyyyyy, that rhymes with pennnyyyyyy" I laugh, and lean sideways and almost fall out of my chair. Why is everyone leaning to the left? And blurry?

"did you grow another head?" I ask and try to concentrate on Emmett, who looks like he has two heads and it's really freaking me out.

Emmett looks at Rose and raises his eyebrows in amusement "Is baby belly drunky"

Rose just shakes her head "Yea, let's go get a drink, but I should bring her with us so I know she's safe" and then she grabs my hand and drags me toward the bar.

Then we suddenly come to a halt. I look around confused as we aren't at the bar yet. I peek to the side, and I realize why Rose had stopped.

"Holy shit, what the fuck is she doing here?" Emmett says from behind me. I see that Alice is beside Jasper, but she's death glaring at some blonde tramp that's hanging all over Jasper. She has a fake tan and is dragging her fake ass fingernails up and down Jasper s arm and whispering something in his ear. What disturbs me the most though is that she's wearing a pair of those cut off shorts that leave little to the imagination. I'm talking full on butt cheeks. I almost throw up from the sight, but that could also be all the alcohol too.

"Who is that?" Rose turns around to ask Emmett.

"Maria, Jasper's ex. She cheated on him so they broke up but every once in a while she shows up to the bar and tries to get him back."

As we get closer we hear Jasper

"Maria, lay off it and leave me a lone" he says and begins to remove his arm from her grasp. He attempts to turn towards Alice but this Maria bitch quickly grabs both of his shoulders and goes in for a kiss.

Alice, clearly being fed up with this girl, grabs Jasper and pulls him towards her before Maria can kiss him. Jasper jerks backwards, almost falling as the pull sets him off balance, but quickly catches himself only stumbling slightly.

"Who the FUCK do you think you are? Can't you tell that he's with SOMEONE. Back off Bitch" Alice rants and walks over to the girl and shoves her backward, causing the girl to fall out of her bar stool that she was currently occupying. She then quickly jumps up and goes to take a swing at Alice, but luckily Jasper quickly jumps in the middle of them to stop the fight

"Maria, you're the one that cheated on me and I've told you time and time again to leave me alone. So please listen as I warn you that this is the last time I will tell you before I get a restraining order on you"

Alice childishly sticks her tongue out at Maria, who in turn glares at Alice. "Take that you WHORE" she yells and then grabs Jasper and kisses the life out of him.

It takes me a moment to realize that it's not a drunken hallucination and I blink furiously just to confirm that they are actually making out furiously in front of Maria, who just screams and runs out of the bar.

"Hell yaw. That's my boy" Emmett gloats and fist pumps.

They finally pull away from each other, catching their breath

Eventually we all make it out of the bar, and I take a deep breath of fresh air and close my eyes. It was so hot in the bar and the coolness is calming me down. However, my stomach feels icky and mushy; I can already tell I'll be throwing up soon.

I slowly follow Alice, who is now holding Jasper's hand and laughing at whatever he's doing.

"BELLA" someone shouts, I turn around, almost tripping on air and try to find the direction that the voice is coming from.

"Hey you stay over there. She doesn't want to talk to you" Rose barks

Suddenly Edwards face comes to my view, and I give the best glare I can give, which I'm sure makes me look like a scrunched up kitten "I curse the day you were born" I angrily flair my arms and twist the other way.

Edward runs over to me and steadies me as I almost fall over from turning around to fast.

"Bella, you've got to listen to me. Please hear me out. I'll do anything" he begs

I star at his eyebrows that are scrunched together. "Your eyebrows are like big fat worms" and touch one.

"Please Bella" he pleads, holding still as lets me touch his eyebrows and push them up and down. I giggle cuz now it looks like ocean waves.

"Bella, lets go" Rose demands

"Bella, I NEED you to hear me out" Edward says

I let go of his eyebrows and clutch my stomach, the feeling of needing to throw up makes its way up my body "I don't feel so good" I moan

Edward worriedly looks at me and places his hand on my forehead "You do feel warm"

And then before I can stop it, I lurch forward and throw up all over Edwards's pants and shoes. Everyone else gasps in horror and I hear Rose start to laugh "Serves you right you dickwad" and pulls me in the car.

"oops" I say to no one in particular and pass out in the backseat of the car, my last memory is of Edward's expression as it turns to horror as he realizes just a second too late of what was about to happen.

* * *

I hear my alarm go off; the noise makes me quiver as it sounds like an exposition is going off. My head is pounding, the throat dry and in desperate need of water and my eyes feel too heavy to open.

I somehow manage to use up what little energy I have left to sit up from what appears to be my bed and quickly shut off the terrible beeping noise. The time says 11:46.

I glance down to see that I am wearing the same clothes that I was wearing last night, apart from my shoes. I pat my head, trying to run my hands through the mess of what it seems to be. Who brought me home? How did I even make it to my bed? Edward's horrified expression as I vomit all over him pops up. I immediately lie back down and groan.

God did that really happen? Well serves him right for being an ass. He'll probably never want to talk to me again. I throw a pillow over my head, attempting to block the sun that is happily shinning in the room. I want to throw a black tarp over it as its hurting my eyes and making my head pound even harder. I don't I've even been this hung over in my life.

"Oh look, sleeping beauty is up" Alice perkily says

"HA. More like maleficent" Rose argues in a sugary sweet voice. If I had the energy, I would punch them both in the face

I sit up quickly and throw my pillow at them, of course it misses them by miles and it makes them laugh even harder. I pat around my bed, searching for something else to throw.

"Look at that hair. I think we should invite Edward over, let him see the REAL Bella" laughs Rose.

"How did her mascara manager to spear all the way up to her forehead" Alice giggles

"You two better run" I warn, trying to mentally smack both of them.

"Yea your hung-over as fuck, you couldn't catch us if you tried" Rose mocks

"What the hell happened last night?" I scratch my head, and try to remember.

"Well you kind of thew up on Edward" Alice says cautiously

"Oh man, I was really hoping that was just my imagination" I groan

"Nope, it was pretty bad. He almost threw up himself" Alice laughs, clearly remembering.

"Serves him right. Hell, that's the best revenge you can pull on him. It was hilarious" Rose says and pulls her hair in a quick pony tail.

"Alright, alright, enough. I don't want to hear about it anymore." I say and cover up my ears.

"Get your ass in the shower, and then we'll talk" Alice says and starts to change from her pajamas.

20 minutes of trying not to pass out later, I walk back in the room, feeling much cleaner, but my body is still recovering. I take a quick dose of Advil and sit back down on the bed.

"Alright, so did you get in a fight with some bimbo and then make out with Jasper" I ask. I vividly remember Alice cussing out some girl and then kissing Jasper.

"Yes, that bitch was really pissing me off. He's mine and she needed to keep her hands to herself, and when she wouldn't listen I made it clear that he's off the market"

"Solid. It's about time you guys finally admit that you're crazy about each other. So it's official and everything?"

"Well, we're taking it really slow. Just dating you know? We can't rush anything. But we're only seeing each other.

"SO basically, they're together" Rose chimes in, climbing down from her bed to grab her water bottle.

"Is that why you have been so absent lately, sneaking off with him" I ask

"Yea, and I really wanted to tell you. But at first I was too scared to admit that I liked him. I actually had planned on anything happening. I'm so busy with school and he's too busy trying to be a rock star. Plus he's totally NOT my type." She rambles on

"What made you change your mind?" I ask curiously

"Well I was out shopping, and I went into a music store to try to find something for my dad's birthday as he loves to play guitar and sing when I ran into Jasper. He works there and he helped me find something. We grabbed dinner afterwards and it was lovely. We thought it would be best to keep it on the DL until we became official."

"Well I think that's great Alice. You deserve a great guy, and I think Jasper's awesome. And if he makes you happy, then I'm happy"

"Thanks girls. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just didn't want to get everyone excited until I knew for sure what was happening."

"We understand girly" Rose says

"Since we're talking about relationships, how was your visit with Emmett's family? I never got a chance to ask you?" I ask her

"It was actually really great. His parents really liked me, and I spent a lot of time with them. I went shopping with his mom and I learned a lot more about Emmett when he was a kid. She said he was always big, being 12 pounds when he was born, but always had a gentle soul. He used to be best friends with a kid next door who was in a wheel chair due to muscular dystrophy. Anyways Emmett would beat up anyone that would pick on him and would help him play sports that accommodated to his situation. When the family moved away, Emmett was heartbroken and cried for days"

"WOW, so the big guy has a big heart huh?" Alice giggles

"Yea, that's not the only big thing he's got" Rose wiggles her eyebrows and provocatively motions to the groin area.

"OOKAYYYY and end of conversation" I yell

Rose snickers but then turns serious. "There' something big that happened though"

"What? Alice and I ask eagerly.

"Emmetttoldmehelovedmeandisaiditback" She mumbles in a soft voice

"What in the land of pandas was that gibberish about?" Alice says

"Emmett told me he loved me" Rose says and then jumps back on her bed and covers her head with a pillow

"AND!" Alice and I scream

"And I said it back" she says and peaks up from her pillows

"OOOOOHHHH MMMMMYYYYYY FLLLLLIPPPPPPINNNNG GWAAAADD!" we yell and jump up and down

"You guys don't think I'm an idiot or that it's too fast?" Rose asks

"No, I think it's perfect. He's a great guy and treats you like a queen. We couldn't ask for a better buy for you" I say

"Thanks guys" she says and we all hug.

My phone rings again and I grab it. I frown as I see it's from Edward, and not my alarm going off again. Great, he's probably cussing me out. I wonder if he wants me to dry clean his clothes.

_Bella, please meet me today. I'll be at the Jive from 12 to 5. If you don't show up, I'll give up but if you do, I promise to explain everything._

"UGHHHH I hate boys" I yell and throw my phone to the other side of my bed. Rose quickly jumps and grabs it, reading the message.

"You should go" she says and hands the phone to Alice to read

"Why? What can he possibly say that's going to make me feel better? And how do I know he's not lying" I rant

Alice sets my phone down and sits down next to me, putting an arm around me in comfort. "Bells, I think you should hear him out" I give her a hard look. Traitors.

"Hear me out" she says and gives my shoulder a squeeze. "Fine" I mutter

"It will give you closure. Whatever the excuse, it will help you to move and forgive him. It's a lot better than sitting around and holding a grudge and being miserable."

"Yea, it's worth a shot. You've got nothing to lose" Rose reckons, agreeing with Alice.

"Fine. But if this ends badly, I'm blaming you bitches" I exhort.

After having some food and caffeine to make my body and mind feel better, I manage to walk over the Jive, a local coffee spot just a couple blocks away. I decided to walk, thinking that the fresh air would help me. Luckily, I wore my sunglasses so the blaring sun doesn't split my head right open.

While it's chilly out, the warmth of the sun feels good and the breeze rustles my hair, making me feel better.

I walk inside and look around, trying to spot Edward. It's about 2, so according to his text, he should already be here.

There's an elderly couple sipping coffee and spitting a piece of cake, a group of students all working on some sort of project, brainstorming ideas, a dad with his two sons laughing as the two kids devours their chocolate cup cakes, and finally I spot Edward in the far booth in the back corner. He's on his lap top, look of concentration on his face as he jots something in the notebook he has beside him.

His hairs a mess per usual, looking like he just woke up OR had sex. Wearing on of his famous plaid shirts that he looks oh so good in, my heart can't help but skip a few beats. He's good looking, and even though he's a jerk its like my heart isn't listening to my brain, making me year to run over to him and get carried away in the tightness of his embrace.

As if he can feel my gaze on him, Edward looks up, and his face lights up with surprise. We star at each other for a while, and I can tell Edward is worried I might walk out. After a few minutes of debating such thing, I walk over slowly, Edwards eyes on me the whole time.

"Hey" I say simply, still standing.

"Bella. So happy you decided to come. Thank you" Edwards says, giving me his killer smile and closing his lap top

"Look there's something I have to say before you begin" I muster and manage to ignore the butterflies of nervousness fluttering around

"Shoot"

"Alright, so I just want you to know that I maybe not the most beautiful girl out there. I get pimples every once in a while, and I am defiantly not thin and sometimes I get too lazy to shave my legs. But I know that I'm a good person and I deserve a guy that loves me for that rather than how I look. I can't and will never compete for someone who doesn't."

"Bella, it's not like not like that. Please hear me out" he urges

I wave, motioning for him to continue

"Alright well Tanya and I have known each other since freshman year. I met her at some party. We hung out a lot and grew pretty close, got to know each other. But I swear we are only just friends."

"Yea it didn't look like that too me. She acts like she owns you, Edward. It's like she's your possessive girlfriend. What the heck did I walk in on last week anyways?"

"Look Tanya's had a terrible home life. Her dads abusive and shit. I'm really her only friend and she comes to me when she needs to talk or vent. That's what was happening when you came over. I can't really get into details, as it's her story. But we're only friends. I swear to god."

"Did you ever sleep with her?"

"I'm not sure you really want to know the answer to that"

"You know, I saw you guys kissing at the library about a month ago. It seems like you two are quit cozy. And honestly, I don't have the energy to deal with this anymore"

"We haven't hooked up since you and I have been hanging out. I haven't wanted too. The thing is, I really like you Bella, and I think we would be great together. I've never felt anything like this before. Not with Tanya or anyone else. You have to believe me"

"If you want me to believe you, then prove it. But I'm not going to be caught in the middle or whatever the hell is going on between you and her."

"I've just told you that we're just friends. Absolutely nothing else is going on."

"You say that, yet she behaves as though she has your balls on a leash. And you let her".

"I know Tanya's a bit much to handle. She's got a tough personality from all the shit she's been through. Trust me when I say that there is nothing between us. Half the time she's off, preoccupied with some other dude. It's only once in a while that something will happen and need a shoulder to lean on, and since I'm her only friend, she'll seek me out".

I sigh, studying one of the pictures on the wall. I'm still not really sure I'm convinced by his story, but his words plead and beg for me to believe him. Part of me really wants to believe him, forgive and forget it all and run into his arms, letting him take away all the pain.

But my brain kicks in, screaming warning, to just get up and walk out of this cafe and never let him play me again.

I know I can't let him just walk back into my heart. Kiss the boo boo and make up. He needs to prove himself.

"If you want a chance with me, you're gonna have to prove yourself. I won't allow myself to be treated in such a way that I'm not important".

Edward nods his head, getting lost in thought. He looks at me, giving me a pleading look and then sighs when he knows that I am not going to back down. "Fair enough, Bella. if that's what you want, then I'll prove it to you"

I smile, stand up and walk away. It's really hard, as I would love to stay at the table with him. Talk and laugh about life and discuss our future, but I know I'll never be able to trust him unless he shows me that he deserves it. With every nerve ending him screaming at me to turn around, I follow my brain this time and put my heart on mute, and continue to walk away.

When I make it back to the dorm, I mentally pat myself on the back and smile and answer all the questions that are bombarded on me as I enter my room.

**Hey guys! Thanks for reading :) What do you think? Should Bella forgive him?**

**And thanks roomie for being supportive and amazing :) Love you!**


	8. Chapter 8

"I am going to KILL him" I moan as I take in the scene around me

"If I was you, I'd take him back in a heartbeat" Charlotte, one of my suite mates, swoons and picks up one of the many bouquets of roses and takes an appreciative smell.

I just groan even load and walk back into my room, letting the door close with a slam. After having my little chat with Edward a few days ago, I didn't hear anything from him. I assumed that he was giving me the space that I had so desperately begged him for.

Well or so I thought until I cam rushing back from class only to find about 20 bouquets of roses scattered around my suite. Edward had sent them to me along with a card that said

_Bella, words can't describe how much I feel for you, but I figured this would give you an idea_

I throw the card on my desk.

"Soo it looks like someone is not at all happy about the grand gesture"

Rose is on her bed, her books and notes scattered all over, evidence that an exam is coming up

"When I told him to prove himself, I did not mean being all showy and pushy"

"Well what did you mean then?"

"I just need to know that I am the only girl on his mind. And sending me flowers doesn't prove anything. He could do that for anyone."

Rose just nods. "Yea I agree."

"So what's up for tonight?" I ask as I throw some of my laundry that is scattered around my basket. I tend to be lazy sometimes and just toss it carelessly on the floor.

"Well Jasper's cousin is throwing some party tonight, so Em and I are going and of course Alice is now too."

"I seriously can't believe Alice finally let some guy have her heart."

"Yea, never saw that one coming. It looked like she was contemplating killing him for a bit there. I was a litter nervous"

I laugh and sit on my bed, smoothing the sheets below me. "So am I not invited to this thing? is it more of a couple thing?"

The sudden realization that my two best friends have boyfriends and might want to double date strikes me. Looks like I'll be sitting in the dorm alone this Friday night.

"Of course you're invited. I was just worried to tell you about it because Edward will probably be there" she explains

Rolling my eyes, I kick off my shoes and lie down on me bed

"Its kind of inevitable that I'll have to see him since you two are dating his two best friends. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself"

"Okay okay, I did mean anything by it. I just didn't want to put you in an uncomfortable position."

"It's fine Rose. I'd rather go with you guys than sit here and do nothing."

"Well then be ready at 8. Emmett will pick us up"

* * *

So you get the roses I sent you? Edwards's hopeful voice murmurs into my left ear.

I've been at this party for about an hour, and have successfully managed to avoid him. Not that its hard. Jaspers cousin is filthy rich, living in some mansion. And its jam packed with all sorts of people."

I was pouring myself a drink and then heading back to join the group and look at his amazing art collection when Edward catches me off guard.

"Yea now the whole dorm smells of roses thanks to your dramatic gesture." I say and turn to face him, letting him know I am not falling for his act.

Edward rubs the back of his head nervously. "Yea I wasn't sure what type of flowers you liked, but I figured that roses would be a great way to go since most girls love them"

I sigh, already over this conversation. Yes, my heart stutters a bit. The dude's beautiful. In a simple dark t shirt and jeans with the whole two day stubble, he by far is one of the best looking men in this room. But I just can't do it.

I brush by him in attempt to escape his nonsense when he grabs my arm.

"Tell me what to do Bella?"

"I'm not you can do anything. And by shoving flowers in my face sure as hell doesn't make anything better."

"Then tell me what you need and I'll give it to you"

"You can't. trust and commitment isn't something you can have delivered me Edward."

He studies me, and I take the time to look into his eyes, begging him to let me go.

"You know, I'm getting real tired of seeing this bitch hang onto you like a fucking pathetic leach" a snotty says

I turn to see that it's Tanya, of course, and shove Edwards hand off my shoulder. But Edward surprises me by grabbing my hand, tugging and not letting me get away. I am just about to give Edward a piece of my mind when he turns and glares at Tanya.

"What the hell are you doing here? And talking to Bella like that?"

I jaw drops in surprise. So he didn't come with her? I see that Edwards jaw is clenched and his voice is filled with venom, eyebrows scrunched with anger.

"Oh what, so your standing up for that little bitch here? I'll forgive you this time Edward as I know you'll come begging within the next week," and shoves her hair back and juts out her hip, total Regina George style from Means Girls. All she needs is a pink outfit and it's the perfect fit.

"No Tanya, I won't. I'm fed up with this. And don't you dare talk to Bella that way. Our friendship is over. Please leave me alone. I don't know why and or how you got here, but you need to leave."

Tanya's face reddens and for a second it looks like she's almost about to cry but quickly turns back to an evil scowl. I try to remove my hand from Edwards, as I have no desire to be caught between their little feud but his grip tightens.

"Fine, have it your way" Tanya seethes and walks by me. I sigh in relive but of course Tanya won't go without a bam because before I know it, she's pouring her beer that she had been holding all over me.

Several people have stopped what they are doing and are watching the scene unfold. I am about to die of embarrassment when Edward seethes "Get the fuck out of here Tanya. Enjoy your miserable life. Good luck finding someone else who will listen to you whine and bitch about your daddy issues" and turns to me, his eyes full of worry. "Are you okay?"

I shake my head and close my eyes to stop the tears that are threatening to pour out of my eyes. Before I know what's happening, I feel myself be lifted up and being carried somewhere. Instantly, I put my arms around his neck and bury my head into his shoulder.

**Hey guys so sorry it's been forever since the last update. I am a college kid and it's been crazy lately. But it will be over in like 2 weeks, thank goodness and then I'll update more frequently! And sorry the chapter is shorter. It will be longer next time! Anyways so sorry to had left you hanging! Hope you guys liked it and love hearing all your reviews! Thank you :)**


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